diff --git a/pkg/controller/priorityqueue/priorityqueue.go b/pkg/controller/priorityqueue/priorityqueue.go
index 8f9adf2629..72c5e49428 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/priorityqueue/priorityqueue.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/priorityqueue/priorityqueue.go
@@ -195,35 +195,41 @@ func (w *priorityqueue[T]) spin() {
 			w.lockedLock.Lock()
 			defer w.lockedLock.Unlock()
 
-			w.queue.Ascend(func(item *item[T]) bool {
-				if w.waiters.Load() == 0 { // no waiters, return as we can not hand anything out anyways
-					return false
-				}
+			for continueLoop := true; continueLoop; {
+				continueLoop = false
+				w.queue.Ascend(func(item *item[T]) bool {
+					if w.waiters.Load() == 0 { // no waiters, return as we can not hand anything out anyways
+						return false
+					}
+
+					// No next element we can process
+					if item.readyAt != nil && item.readyAt.After(w.now()) {
+						readyAt := item.readyAt.Sub(w.now())
+						if readyAt <= 0 { // Toctou race with the above check
+							readyAt = 1
+						}
+						nextReady = w.tick(readyAt)
+						return false
+					}
 
-				// No next element we can process
-				if item.readyAt != nil && item.readyAt.After(w.now()) {
-					readyAt := item.readyAt.Sub(w.now())
-					if readyAt <= 0 { // Toctou race with the above check
-						readyAt = 1
+					// Item is locked, we can not hand it out
+					if w.locked.Has(item.key) {
+						return true
 					}
-					nextReady = w.tick(readyAt)
+
+					w.metrics.get(item.key)
+					w.locked.Insert(item.key)
+					w.waiters.Add(-1)
+					delete(w.items, item.key)
+					w.queue.Delete(item)
+					w.get <- *item
+
+					// Return false because continuing with Ascend after deleting an item
+					// can lead to panics within Ascend.
+					continueLoop = true
 					return false
-				}
-
-				// Item is locked, we can not hand it out
-				if w.locked.Has(item.key) {
-					return true
-				}
-
-				w.metrics.get(item.key)
-				w.locked.Insert(item.key)
-				w.waiters.Add(-1)
-				delete(w.items, item.key)
-				w.queue.Delete(item)
-				w.get <- *item
-
-				return true
-			})
+				})
+			}
 		}()
 	}
 }
diff --git a/pkg/controller/priorityqueue/priorityqueue_test.go b/pkg/controller/priorityqueue/priorityqueue_test.go
index 13bd5fc8d3..e5b9ea893b 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/priorityqueue/priorityqueue_test.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/priorityqueue/priorityqueue_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package priorityqueue
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"math/rand/v2"
 	"sync"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -283,6 +284,41 @@ var _ = Describe("Controllerworkqueue", func() {
 		Expect(metrics.depth["test"]).To(Equal(0))
 		Expect(metrics.adds["test"]).To(Equal(2))
 	})
+
+	It("returns many items", func() {
+		// This test ensures the queue is able to drain a large queue without panic'ing.
+		// In a previous version of the code we were calling queue.Delete within q.Ascend
+		// which led to a panic in queue.Ascend > iterate:
+		// "panic: runtime error: index out of range [0] with length 0"
+
+		q, _ := newQueue()
+		defer q.ShutDown()
+
+		for range 20 {
+			for i := range 1000 {
+				rn := rand.N(100)
+				if rn < 10 {
+					q.AddWithOpts(AddOpts{After: time.Duration(rn) * time.Millisecond}, fmt.Sprintf("foo%d", i))
+				} else {
+					q.AddWithOpts(AddOpts{Priority: rn}, fmt.Sprintf("foo%d", i))
+				}
+			}
+
+			wg := sync.WaitGroup{}
+			for range 100 { // The panic only occurred relatively frequently with a high number of go routines.
+				wg.Add(1)
+				go func() {
+					defer wg.Done()
+					for range 10 {
+						obj, _, _ := q.GetWithPriority()
+						q.Done(obj)
+					}
+				}()
+			}
+
+			wg.Wait()
+		}
+	})
 })
 
 func BenchmarkAddGetDone(b *testing.B) {