diff --git a/core/src/main/resources/lib/hudson/progressive-text.js b/core/src/main/resources/lib/hudson/progressive-text.js
index 8d3f6d741d..1dd43a3a0e 100644
--- a/core/src/main/resources/lib/hudson/progressive-text.js
+++ b/core/src/main/resources/lib/hudson/progressive-text.js
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ Behaviour.specify(
       Where to retrieve additional text from
   */
     function fetchNext(e, href, onFinishEvent) {
+      const start = e.fetchedBytes;
       var headers = crumb.wrap({
         "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded",
         Accept: "multipart/form-data, */*",
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@ Behaviour.specify(
         method: "post",
         headers,
         body: new URLSearchParams({
-          start: e.fetchedBytes,
+          start,
         }),
       }).then((rsp) => {
         if (rsp.status >= 500 || rsp.status === 0) {
@@ -81,8 +82,11 @@ Behaviour.specify(
         }
         /* append text and do autoscroll if applicable */
         parse.then(({ text, end, consoleAnnotator, completed }) => {
+          // An empty chunk carries no annotator state; keep the current one.
+          if (start !== end) {
+            e.consoleAnnotator = consoleAnnotator;
+          }
           e.fetchedBytes = end;
-          e.consoleAnnotator = consoleAnnotator;
           if (text !== "") {
             var p = document.createElement("DIV");
             e.appendChild(p); // Needs to be first for IE
diff --git a/src/test/js/progressive-text.test.js b/src/test/js/progressive-text.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7258893c96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/js/progressive-text.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+import progressiveTextSource from "../../../core/src/main/resources/lib/hudson/progressive-text.js?raw";
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+
+/**
+ * progressive-text.js is a classic script that registers its behaviour with
+ * Behaviour.specify, so evaluate it in the global scope and run the
+ * registered callback against a holder element ourselves.
+ */
+function loadProgressiveText() {
+  let apply;
+  globalThis.Behaviour = {
+    specify: (selector, id, priority, fn) => {
+      apply = fn;
+    },
+    applySubtree: () => {},
+  };
+  globalThis.crumb = { wrap: (headers) => headers };
+  globalThis.AutoScroller = class {
+    isSticking() {
+      return false;
+    }
+    scrollToBottom() {}
+  };
+  // indirect eval, so that the script runs in the global scope
+  (0, eval)(progressiveTextSource);
+  return apply;
+}
+
+describe("progressive-text", () => {
+  /** The requests handed to fetch, each one settled by the test. */
+  let requests;
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    vi.useFakeTimers();
+    requests = [];
+    globalThis.fetch = vi.fn(
+      (url, options) =>
+        new Promise((resolve) => {
+          requests.push({ url, options, resolve });
+        }),
+    );
+
+    document.body.innerHTML = `
+      <pre id="out"></pre>
+      <div class="progressiveText-holder" data-href="logText/progressiveHtml"
+           data-idref="out" data-spinner="" data-start-offset=""
+           data-on-finish-event="" data-error-message="failed"></div>`;
+    loadProgressiveText()(document.querySelector(".progressiveText-holder"));
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    vi.useRealTimers();
+  });
+
+  /**
+   * Answers a request the way the streaming progressiveHtml endpoint does,
+   * then lets the client schedule and send its next request.
+   */
+  async function respondWith(request, text, meta) {
+    request.resolve({
+      status: 200,
+      headers: {
+        get: (name) =>
+          name === "Content-Type"
+            ? "multipart/form-data;boundary=b;charset=utf-8"
+            : null,
+      },
+      formData: () =>
+        Promise.resolve({
+          get: (name) => ({ text, meta: JSON.stringify(meta) })[name],
+        }),
+    });
+    await vi.advanceTimersByTimeAsync(1000);
+  }
+
+  function sentAnnotator(request) {
+    return request.options.headers["X-ConsoleAnnotator"];
+  }
+
+  function sentStart(request) {
+    return request.options.body.get("start");
+  }
+
+  it("keeps sending the console annotator after a poll without new output", async () => {
+    expect(sentAnnotator(requests[0])).toBeUndefined();
+    await respondWith(requests[0], "line1\n", {
+      completed: false,
+      start: 0,
+      end: 6,
+      consoleAnnotator: "state-1",
+    });
+    expect(sentAnnotator(requests[1])).toBe("state-1");
+
+    // No new output: the server sends no annotator state for an empty chunk.
+    await respondWith(requests[1], "", { completed: false, start: 6, end: 6 });
+
+    expect(sentStart(requests[2])).toBe("6");
+    expect(sentAnnotator(requests[2])).toBe("state-1");
+  });
+
+  it("sends the new console annotator after more output", async () => {
+    await respondWith(requests[0], "line1\n", {
+      completed: false,
+      start: 0,
+      end: 6,
+      consoleAnnotator: "state-1",
+    });
+    await respondWith(requests[1], "", { completed: false, start: 6, end: 6 });
+    await respondWith(requests[2], "line2\n", {
+      completed: false,
+      start: 6,
+      end: 12,
+      consoleAnnotator: "state-2",
+    });
+
+    expect(sentStart(requests[3])).toBe("12");
+    expect(sentAnnotator(requests[3])).toBe("state-2");
+    expect(document.getElementById("out").textContent).toBe("line1\nline2\n");
+  });
+});