diff --git a/src/test/isolation/expected/vacuum-reltuples.out b/src/test/isolation/expected/vacuum-reltuples.out
index ee3adf58050..337b7ab2528 100644
--- a/src/test/isolation/expected/vacuum-reltuples.out
+++ b/src/test/isolation/expected/vacuum-reltuples.out
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ Parsed test spec with 2 sessions
 starting permutation: modify vac stats
 step modify: 
     insert into smalltbl select max(id)+1 from smalltbl;
-    delete from smalltbl where id in (select min(id) from smalltbl);
 
 step vac: 
     vacuum smalltbl;
@@ -14,23 +13,22 @@ step stats:
 
 relpages       reltuples      
 
-1              20             
+1              21             
 
 starting permutation: modify open fetch1 vac close stats
 step modify: 
     insert into smalltbl select max(id)+1 from smalltbl;
-    delete from smalltbl where id in (select min(id) from smalltbl);
 
 step open: 
     begin;
-    declare c1 cursor for select * from smalltbl;
+    declare c1 cursor for select 1 as dummy from smalltbl;
 
 step fetch1: 
     fetch next from c1;
 
-id             
+dummy          
 
-2              
+1              
 step vac: 
     vacuum smalltbl;
 
@@ -48,7 +46,6 @@ relpages       reltuples
 starting permutation: modify vac stats
 step modify: 
     insert into smalltbl select max(id)+1 from smalltbl;
-    delete from smalltbl where id in (select min(id) from smalltbl);
 
 step vac: 
     vacuum smalltbl;
@@ -59,4 +56,4 @@ step stats:
 
 relpages       reltuples      
 
-1              20             
+1              21             
diff --git a/src/test/isolation/specs/vacuum-reltuples.spec b/src/test/isolation/specs/vacuum-reltuples.spec
index 52bc405547a..6d9fa010b3c 100644
--- a/src/test/isolation/specs/vacuum-reltuples.spec
+++ b/src/test/isolation/specs/vacuum-reltuples.spec
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 # Test for vacuum's handling of reltuples when pages are skipped due
 # to page pins. We absolutely need to avoid setting reltuples=0 in
 # such cases, since that interferes badly with planning.
+#
+# Expected result in second permutation is 20 tuples rather than 21 as
+# for the others, because vacuum should leave the previous result
+# (from before the insert) in place.
 
 setup {
     create table smalltbl
@@ -18,7 +22,7 @@ teardown {
 session "worker"
 step "open" {
     begin;
-    declare c1 cursor for select * from smalltbl;
+    declare c1 cursor for select 1 as dummy from smalltbl;
 }
 step "fetch1" {
     fetch next from c1;
@@ -37,7 +41,6 @@ step "vac" {
 }
 step "modify" {
     insert into smalltbl select max(id)+1 from smalltbl;
-    delete from smalltbl where id in (select min(id) from smalltbl);
 }
 
 permutation "modify" "vac" "stats"