diff --git a/dev/assign_cherry_picked_prs_with_milestone.py b/dev/assign_cherry_picked_prs_with_milestone.py
index fa05455dd3e2b..9c4280524b3d3 100755
--- a/dev/assign_cherry_picked_prs_with_milestone.py
+++ b/dev/assign_cherry_picked_prs_with_milestone.py
@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@
 MY_DIR_PATH = os.path.dirname(__file__)
 SOURCE_DIR_PATH = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(MY_DIR_PATH, os.pardir))
 PR_PATTERN = re.compile(r".*\(#([0-9]+)\)")
-ISSUE_MATCH_IN_BODY = re.compile(r" #([0-9]+)[^0-9]")
 
 CHANGELOG_CHANGES_FILE = "changelog-changes.txt"
 DOC_ONLY_CHANGES_FILE = "doc-only-changes.txt"
diff --git a/dev/breeze/src/airflow_breeze/commands/release_management_commands.py b/dev/breeze/src/airflow_breeze/commands/release_management_commands.py
index c308278d2d3b2..c7efa5a2fd3d6 100644
--- a/dev/breeze/src/airflow_breeze/commands/release_management_commands.py
+++ b/dev/breeze/src/airflow_breeze/commands/release_management_commands.py
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@
 SOURCE_DIR_PATH = str(AIRFLOW_ROOT_PATH)
 PR_PATTERN = re.compile(r".*\(#([0-9]+)\)")
 PR_REFERENCE_PATTERN = re.compile(r"#([0-9]+)")
-ISSUE_MATCH_IN_BODY = re.compile(r" #([0-9]+)[^0-9]")
+ISSUE_MATCH_IN_BODY = re.compile(r" #([0-9]+)(?![0-9])")
 # Release-management commits (provider documentation / release preparation) are pure
 # release-process noise: they are not user-facing changes and existing providers already
 # exclude them (the release tooling parks them in the changelog's excluded section). Match
diff --git a/dev/breeze/tests/test_release_management_commands.py b/dev/breeze/tests/test_release_management_commands.py
index 6c16bfa1c83c5..a29519b331ec1 100644
--- a/dev/breeze/tests/test_release_management_commands.py
+++ b/dev/breeze/tests/test_release_management_commands.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 
 from airflow_breeze.commands import release_management_commands
 from airflow_breeze.commands.release_management_commands import (
+    ISSUE_MATCH_IN_BODY,
     _ensure_default_python_for_reproducible_client,
     _is_initial_provider_release,
     _should_include_provider_in_issue,
@@ -292,3 +293,19 @@ def test_get_package_version_possibly_from_stable_txt_for_java_sdk(
         stable_txt.parent.mkdir(parents=True)
         stable_txt.write_text(stable_txt_content)
     assert get_package_version_possibly_from_stable_txt("java-sdk") == expected_version
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("body", "expected"),
+    [
+        ("Some description closes: #12345 and more text", [12345]),
+        # reference at the very end of the body (e.g. "Fixes #53843" as the last line)
+        ("Generated-by: some agent Fixes #53843", [53843]),
+        ("related: #111, also see #222", [111, 222]),
+        ("adjacent references see #111 #222", [111, 222]),
+        ("no references here", []),
+        ("PR#123 without space is not a reference", []),
+    ],
+)
+def test_issue_match_in_body(body: str, expected: list[int]):
+    assert [int(m.group(1)) for m in ISSUE_MATCH_IN_BODY.finditer(body)] == expected