diff --git a/libs/remote_storage/src/s3_bucket.rs b/libs/remote_storage/src/s3_bucket.rs
index 97fa1bbf5b..d63a5ed99b 100644
--- a/libs/remote_storage/src/s3_bucket.rs
+++ b/libs/remote_storage/src/s3_bucket.rs
@@ -218,14 +218,6 @@ impl S3Bucket {
 
         let started_at = ScopeGuard::into_inner(started_at);
 
-        if get_object.is_err() {
-            metrics::BUCKET_METRICS.req_seconds.observe_elapsed(
-                kind,
-                AttemptOutcome::Err,
-                started_at,
-            );
-        }
-
         match get_object {
             Ok(object_output) => {
                 let metadata = object_output.metadata().cloned().map(StorageMetadata);
@@ -241,11 +233,27 @@ impl S3Bucket {
                 })
             }
             Err(SdkError::ServiceError(e)) if matches!(e.err(), GetObjectError::NoSuchKey(_)) => {
+                // Count this in the AttemptOutcome::Ok bucket, because 404 is not
+                // an error: we expect to sometimes fetch an object and find it missing,
+                // e.g. when probing for timeline indices.
+                metrics::BUCKET_METRICS.req_seconds.observe_elapsed(
+                    kind,
+                    AttemptOutcome::Ok,
+                    started_at,
+                );
                 Err(DownloadError::NotFound)
             }
-            Err(e) => Err(DownloadError::Other(
-                anyhow::Error::new(e).context("download s3 object"),
-            )),
+            Err(e) => {
+                metrics::BUCKET_METRICS.req_seconds.observe_elapsed(
+                    kind,
+                    AttemptOutcome::Err,
+                    started_at,
+                );
+
+                Err(DownloadError::Other(
+                    anyhow::Error::new(e).context("download s3 object"),
+                ))
+            }
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/test_runner/regress/test_timeline_delete.py b/test_runner/regress/test_timeline_delete.py
index c6d578a7a2..82ffcb1177 100644
--- a/test_runner/regress/test_timeline_delete.py
+++ b/test_runner/regress/test_timeline_delete.py
@@ -263,15 +263,6 @@ def test_delete_timeline_exercise_crash_safety_failpoints(
                 ps_http, env.initial_tenant, timeline_id, iterations=iterations
             )
 
-            if failpoint == "timeline-delete-after-index-delete":
-                m = ps_http.get_metrics()
-                assert (
-                    m.query_one(
-                        "remote_storage_s3_request_seconds_count",
-                        filter={"request_type": "get_object", "result": "ok"},
-                    ).value
-                    == 1  # index part for initial timeline
-                )
     elif check is Check.RETRY_WITHOUT_RESTART:
         # this should succeed
         # this also checks that delete can be retried even when timeline is in Broken state