diff --git a/gio/gdbusconnection.c b/gio/gdbusconnection.c
index 086960daf..1f6ca5745 100644
--- a/gio/gdbusconnection.c
+++ b/gio/gdbusconnection.c
@@ -5951,7 +5951,12 @@ register_with_closures_on_method_call (GDBusConnection       *connection,
   g_value_set_variant (&params[5], parameters);
 
   g_value_init (&params[6], G_TYPE_DBUS_METHOD_INVOCATION);
-  g_value_take_object (&params[6], g_steal_pointer (&invocation));
+  /* NOTE: This is deliberately *not* g_value_take_object(). A reference to
+   * `invocation` is transferred in to this function, and it needs to be
+   * transferred onwards to the `g_dbus_method_invocation_return_*()` method
+   * call which must eventually happen (either in the closure function, or in
+   * a delayed consequence from it). Changing this will break API. */
+  g_value_set_object (&params[6], invocation);
 
   g_closure_invoke (data->method_call_closure, NULL, G_N_ELEMENTS (params), params, NULL);
 
@@ -6085,6 +6090,11 @@ register_with_closures_on_set_property (GDBusConnection *connection,
  * Version of g_dbus_connection_register_object() using closures instead of a
  * #GDBusInterfaceVTable for easier binding in other languages.
  *
+ * Note that the reference counting semantics of the function wrapped by
+ * @method_call_closure are the same as those of
+ * [callback@Gio.DBusInterfaceMethodCallFunc]: ownership of a reference to the
+ * [class@Gio.DBusMethodInvocation] is transferred to the function.
+ *
  * Returns: 0 if @error is set, otherwise a registration ID (never 0)
  * that can be used with g_dbus_connection_unregister_object() .
  *
diff --git a/gio/tests/gdbus-export.c b/gio/tests/gdbus-export.c
index 5be560013..599df5bb5 100644
--- a/gio/tests/gdbus-export.c
+++ b/gio/tests/gdbus-export.c
@@ -161,23 +161,6 @@ foo_method_call (GDBusConnection       *connection,
     }
 }
 
-static void
-foo_method_call_with_closure (GDBusConnection       *connection,
-                              const gchar           *sender,
-                              const gchar           *object_path,
-                              const gchar           *interface_name,
-                              const gchar           *method_name,
-                              GVariant              *parameters,
-                              GDBusMethodInvocation *invocation,
-                              gpointer               user_data)
-{
-  /* The call below takes ownership of the invocation but ownership is not
-   * passed into the callback so get an additional reference here */
-  g_object_ref (invocation);
-
-  foo_method_call (connection, sender, object_path, interface_name, method_name, parameters, invocation, user_data);
-}
-
 static GVariant *
 foo_get_property (GDBusConnection       *connection,
                   const gchar           *sender,
@@ -1457,7 +1440,7 @@ test_object_registration_with_closures (void)
   registration_id = g_dbus_connection_register_object_with_closures (c,
                                                                      "/foo/boss",
                                                                      (GDBusInterfaceInfo *) &foo_interface_info,
-                                                                     g_cclosure_new (G_CALLBACK (foo_method_call_with_closure), NULL, NULL),
+                                                                     g_cclosure_new (G_CALLBACK (foo_method_call), NULL, NULL),
                                                                      g_cclosure_new (G_CALLBACK (foo_get_property), NULL, NULL),
                                                                      g_cclosure_new (G_CALLBACK (foo_set_property), NULL, NULL),
                                                                      &error);