diff --git a/src/apify/storage_clients/_apify/_request_queue_single_client.py b/src/apify/storage_clients/_apify/_request_queue_single_client.py
index 05614cd8..9bf9e58e 100644
--- a/src/apify/storage_clients/_apify/_request_queue_single_client.py
+++ b/src/apify/storage_clients/_apify/_request_queue_single_client.py
@@ -192,7 +192,14 @@ async def fetch_next_request(self) -> Request | None:
             request_id = self._head_requests.pop()
             if request_id not in self._requests_in_progress and request_id not in self._requests_already_handled:
                 self._requests_in_progress.add(request_id)
-                return await self._get_request_by_id(request_id)
+                request = await self._get_request_by_id(request_id)
+                if request is None:
+                    # Defensive guard against an unexpected `None` from the platform: leaving the id in
+                    # `_requests_in_progress` would make `is_empty()` never settle and filter the id out of future
+                    # head reconciliations, with no recovery path for the caller.
+                    self._requests_in_progress.discard(request_id)
+                    continue
+                return request
         # No request locally and the ones returned from the platform are already in progress.
         return None