diff --git a/resources/asciidoctor/lib/elastic_include_tagged/extension.rb b/resources/asciidoctor/lib/elastic_include_tagged/extension.rb
index 8caee5f4b1948..1d76e4fa6a694 100644
--- a/resources/asciidoctor/lib/elastic_include_tagged/extension.rb
+++ b/resources/asciidoctor/lib/elastic_include_tagged/extension.rb
@@ -49,14 +49,15 @@ def process(_doc, reader, target, attrs)
             break
           end
           if found_tag
-            line = line[indentation..-1]
+            line = line.sub(indentation, '')
             included_lines << line if line
             next
           end
-          next unless start_match =~ line
+          start_match_data = start_match.match(line)
+          next unless start_match_data
 
           found_tag = true
-          indentation = $1.size
+          indentation = /^#{start_match_data[1]}/
           start_of_include = lineno
         end
       end
diff --git a/resources/asciidoctor/spec/elastic_include_tagged_spec.rb b/resources/asciidoctor/spec/elastic_include_tagged_spec.rb
index 57deccfb4876e..c737f48f2b113 100644
--- a/resources/asciidoctor/spec/elastic_include_tagged_spec.rb
+++ b/resources/asciidoctor/spec/elastic_include_tagged_spec.rb
@@ -84,6 +84,25 @@
     expect(actual).to eq(expected.strip)
   end
 
+  it "preserves empty lines" do
+    actual = convert <<~ASCIIDOC
+      == Example
+      ["source","java",subs="attributes,callouts,macros"]
+      ----
+      include::elastic-include-tagged:resources/elastic_include_tagged/Example.java[empty_line]
+      ----
+    ASCIIDOC
+    expected = <<~DOCBOOK
+      <chapter id="_example">
+      <title>Example</title>
+      <programlisting language="java" linenumbering="unnumbered">System.err.println("empty list after this one");
+
+      System.err.println("and before this one");</programlisting>
+      </chapter>
+    DOCBOOK
+    expect(actual).to eq(expected.strip)
+  end
+
   it "warns if the file doesn't exist" do
     input = <<~ASCIIDOC
       include::elastic-include-tagged:resources/elastic_include_tagged/DoesNotExist.java[doesn't-matter]
@@ -113,7 +132,9 @@
     expected = <<~DOCBOOK
       <preface>
       <title></title>
-      <simpara>System.err.println("this tag doesn&#8217;t have any end");</simpara>
+      <simpara>System.err.println("this tag doesn&#8217;t have any end");
+          }
+      }</simpara>
       </preface>
     DOCBOOK
     actual = convert input, {}, match(%r{resources/elastic_include_tagged/Example.java: line \d+: elastic-include-tagged missing end tag \[missing-end\]})
diff --git a/resources/asciidoctor/spec/resources/elastic_include_tagged/Example.java b/resources/asciidoctor/spec/resources/elastic_include_tagged/Example.java
index 09b0667e530b8..4508ed1475b31 100644
--- a/resources/asciidoctor/spec/resources/elastic_include_tagged/Example.java
+++ b/resources/asciidoctor/spec/resources/elastic_include_tagged/Example.java
@@ -19,6 +19,12 @@ public void doThings() {
         System.err.println("no leading space");
         //end::no_leading_space
 
+        // tag::empty_line
+        System.err.println("empty list after this one");
+
+        System.err.println("and before this one");
+        // end::empty_line
+
         // end::missing-start
 
         // tag::missing-end