diff --git a/reactor-netty-http/src/main/java/reactor/netty/http/server/HttpServerOperations.java b/reactor-netty-http/src/main/java/reactor/netty/http/server/HttpServerOperations.java
index 92f1e63be..5f2b1357d 100644
--- a/reactor-netty-http/src/main/java/reactor/netty/http/server/HttpServerOperations.java
+++ b/reactor-netty-http/src/main/java/reactor/netty/http/server/HttpServerOperations.java
@@ -826,6 +826,12 @@ else if (msg instanceof HttpRequest) {
 					channel().config().setAutoRead(true);
 					onInboundComplete();
 				}
+				else if (!isHttp2() && request.headers().contains(HttpHeaderNames.UPGRADE)) {
+					// HTTP/1.1 TLS Upgrade (RFC-2817) non-empty requests (GET/HEAD/OPTIONS)
+					// No need to call onInboundComplete(), it will be triggered by onInboundNext(...)
+					// since this is the last HTTP content
+					stopReadTimeout();
+				}
 			}
 		}
 		else if (msg instanceof LastHttpContent) {
diff --git a/reactor-netty-http/src/test/java/reactor/netty/http/client/HttpClientTest.java b/reactor-netty-http/src/test/java/reactor/netty/http/client/HttpClientTest.java
index 1300ac9b6..e5ca0883d 100644
--- a/reactor-netty-http/src/test/java/reactor/netty/http/client/HttpClientTest.java
+++ b/reactor-netty-http/src/test/java/reactor/netty/http/client/HttpClientTest.java
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@
 import io.netty.channel.unix.DomainSocketAddress;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.compression.Brotli;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.DefaultFullHttpResponse;
+import io.netty.handler.codec.http.DefaultHttpContent;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpClientCodec;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpContent;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpContentDecompressor;
@@ -1732,6 +1733,39 @@ void testIssue3538GetWithPayload() throws Exception {
   		    .verify(Duration.ofSeconds(30));
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	void testIssue3538GetWithPayloadAndH2cMaxContentLength() throws Exception {
+		disposableServer =
+				createServer()
+				          .protocol(HttpProtocol.H2C, HttpProtocol.HTTP11)
+				          .httpRequestDecoder(spec -> spec.h2cMaxContentLength(100))
+				          .route(r -> r.get("/", (req, res) -> {
+				              final EchoAction action = new EchoAction();
+
+				              req
+				                  .receiveContent().switchIfEmpty(Mono.just(LastHttpContent.EMPTY_LAST_CONTENT))
+				                  .subscribe(action);
+
+				              return res.sendObject(action);
+				          }
+				      ))
+				      .bindNow();
+		assertThat(disposableServer).isNotNull();
+
+		final ByteBuf content = createHttpClientForContextWithPort()
+		        .protocol(HttpProtocol.HTTP11)
+		        .headers(h ->
+		            h.add(HttpHeaderNames.CONNECTION, HttpHeaderValues.UPGRADE)
+		             .add(HttpHeaderNames.UPGRADE, "TLS/1.2"))
+		        .request(HttpMethod.GET)
+		        .send((req, res) -> res.sendString(Mono.just("testIssue3538")))
+		        .uri("/")
+		        .responseContent()
+		        .blockLast(Duration.ofSeconds(30));
+
+		assertThat(content).isNotNull();
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	void testIssue694() {
 		disposableServer =
@@ -3594,15 +3628,13 @@ private static class EchoAction implements Publisher<HttpContent>, Consumer<Http
 
         @Override
         public void accept(HttpContent message) {
+            if (message.content().readableBytes() > 0) {
+                emitter.next(new DefaultHttpContent(message.content().retain()));
+            }
+
             if (message instanceof LastHttpContent) {
-                if (message.content().readableBytes() > 0) {
-                    emitter.next(message.retain());
-                }
                 emitter.complete();
             }
-            else {
-                emitter.next(message.retain());
-            }
         }
 
         @Override