diff --git a/gio/gdbusauthmechanismsha1.c b/gio/gdbusauthmechanismsha1.c
index 8137b6352..ed5aa3f96 100644
--- a/gio/gdbusauthmechanismsha1.c
+++ b/gio/gdbusauthmechanismsha1.c
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 #include "gdbusauthmechanismsha1.h"
 #include "gcredentials.h"
 #include "gdbuserror.h"
+#include "glocalfileinfo.h"
 #include "gioenumtypes.h"
 #include "gioerror.h"
 #include "gdbusprivate.h"
@@ -509,6 +510,7 @@ _log (const gchar *message,
  * and was created successfully) */
 static gint
 create_lock_exclusive (const gchar  *lock_path,
+                       gint64       *mtime_nsec,
                        GError      **error)
 {
   int errsv;
@@ -518,6 +520,16 @@ create_lock_exclusive (const gchar  *lock_path,
   errsv = errno;
   if (ret < 0)
     {
+      GLocalFileStat stat_buf;
+
+      /* Get the modification time to distinguish between the lock being stale
+       * or highly contested. */
+      if (mtime_nsec != NULL &&
+          g_local_file_stat (lock_path, G_LOCAL_FILE_STAT_FIELD_MTIME, G_LOCAL_FILE_STAT_FIELD_ALL, &stat_buf) == 0)
+        *mtime_nsec = _g_stat_mtime (&stat_buf) * G_USEC_PER_SEC * 1000 + _g_stat_mtim_nsec (&stat_buf);
+      else if (mtime_nsec != NULL)
+        *mtime_nsec = 0;
+
       g_set_error (error,
                    G_IO_ERROR,
                    g_io_error_from_errno (errsv),
@@ -538,6 +550,7 @@ keyring_acquire_lock (const gchar  *path,
   gint ret;
   guint num_tries;
   int errsv;
+  gint64 lock_mtime_nsec = 0, lock_mtime_nsec_prev = 0;
 
   /* Total possible sleep period = max_tries * timeout_usec = 0.5s */
   const guint max_tries = 50;
@@ -565,13 +578,21 @@ keyring_acquire_lock (const gchar  *path,
 
   for (num_tries = 0; num_tries < max_tries; num_tries++)
     {
+      lock_mtime_nsec_prev = lock_mtime_nsec;
+
       /* Ignore the error until the final call. */
-      ret = create_lock_exclusive (lock, NULL);
+      ret = create_lock_exclusive (lock, &lock_mtime_nsec, NULL);
       if (ret >= 0)
         break;
 
       /* sleep 10ms, then try again */
       g_usleep (timeout_usec);
+
+      /* If the mtime of the lock file changed, don’t count the retry, as it
+       * seems like there’s contention between processes for the lock file,
+       * rather than a stale lock file from a crashed process. */
+      if (num_tries > 0 && lock_mtime_nsec != lock_mtime_nsec_prev)
+        num_tries--;
     }
 
   if (num_tries == max_tries)
@@ -594,7 +615,7 @@ keyring_acquire_lock (const gchar  *path,
       _log ("Deleted stale lock file '%s'", lock);
 
       /* Try one last time to create it, now that we've deleted the stale one */
-      ret = create_lock_exclusive (lock, error);
+      ret = create_lock_exclusive (lock, NULL, error);
       if (ret < 0)
         goto out;
     }