diff --git a/hw/virtio/vhost-shadow-virtqueue.c b/hw/virtio/vhost-shadow-virtqueue.c
index 8df5296f24..e8e5bbc368 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/vhost-shadow-virtqueue.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/vhost-shadow-virtqueue.c
@@ -499,17 +499,20 @@ static void vhost_svq_flush(VhostShadowVirtqueue *svq,
 size_t vhost_svq_poll(VhostShadowVirtqueue *svq)
 {
     int64_t start_us = g_get_monotonic_time();
+    uint32_t len;
+
     do {
-        uint32_t len;
-        VirtQueueElement *elem = vhost_svq_get_buf(svq, &len);
-        if (elem) {
-            return len;
+        if (vhost_svq_more_used(svq)) {
+            break;
         }
 
         if (unlikely(g_get_monotonic_time() - start_us > 10e6)) {
             return 0;
         }
     } while (true);
+
+    vhost_svq_get_buf(svq, &len);
+    return len;
 }
 
 /**