diff --git a/src/builder-git.c b/src/builder-git.c
index edd07eed..ee543d57 100644
--- a/src/builder-git.c
+++ b/src/builder-git.c
@@ -440,6 +440,8 @@ builder_git_mirror_repo (const char     *repo_location,
 {
   g_autoptr(GFile) cache_mirror_dir = NULL;
   g_autoptr(GFile) mirror_dir = NULL;
+  g_autoptr(GFile) real_mirror_dir = NULL;
+  g_autoptr(FlatpakTempDir) tmp_mirror_dir = NULL;
   g_autofree char *current_commit = NULL;
   g_autoptr(GHashTable) refs = NULL;
   gboolean already_exists = FALSE;
@@ -466,6 +468,15 @@ builder_git_mirror_repo (const char     *repo_location,
 
   if (!g_file_query_exists (mirror_dir, NULL))
     {
+      g_autofree char *tmpdir = g_strconcat (flatpak_file_get_path_cached (mirror_dir), "-XXXXXX", NULL);
+
+      if (g_mkdtemp_full (tmpdir, 0755) == NULL)
+        return flatpak_fail (error, "Can't create temporary directory");
+
+      tmp_mirror_dir = g_file_new_for_path (tmpdir);
+      real_mirror_dir = g_steal_pointer (&mirror_dir);
+      mirror_dir = g_object_ref (tmp_mirror_dir);
+
       if (!git (NULL, NULL, 0, error,
                 "init", "--bare",
                 (char *)flatpak_file_get_path_cached (mirror_dir), NULL))
@@ -605,6 +616,14 @@ builder_git_mirror_repo (const char     *repo_location,
         }
     }
 
+  if (real_mirror_dir)
+    {
+      if (!flatpak_file_rename (mirror_dir, real_mirror_dir, NULL, error))
+        return FALSE;
+      g_clear_object (&mirror_dir);
+      mirror_dir = g_steal_pointer (&real_mirror_dir);
+    }
+
   if (flags & FLATPAK_GIT_MIRROR_FLAGS_MIRROR_SUBMODULES)
     {
       current_commit = git_get_current_commit (mirror_dir, ref, FALSE, context, error);