diff --git a/.github/trigger_files/beam_PostCommit_Java_ValidatesRunner_Direct.json b/.github/trigger_files/beam_PostCommit_Java_ValidatesRunner_Direct.json
index b970762c83970..38ae94aee2fa2 100644
--- a/.github/trigger_files/beam_PostCommit_Java_ValidatesRunner_Direct.json
+++ b/.github/trigger_files/beam_PostCommit_Java_ValidatesRunner_Direct.json
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 {
   "comment": "Modify this file in a trivial way to cause this test suite to run",
-  "https://github.com/apache/beam/pull/31156": "noting that PR #31156 should run this test"
+  "https://github.com/apache/beam/pull/31761": "noting that PR #31761 should run this test"
 }
diff --git a/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/testing/PAssert.java b/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/testing/PAssert.java
index aa7b2630cce2e..7a102747b9f7f 100644
--- a/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/testing/PAssert.java
+++ b/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/testing/PAssert.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.NoSuchElementException;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.Pipeline;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.Pipeline.PipelineVisitor;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.PipelineRunner;
@@ -1610,8 +1611,18 @@ private SingletonCheckerDoFn(
 
     @ProcessElement
     public void processElement(ProcessContext c) {
-      ActualT actualContents = Iterables.getOnlyElement(c.element());
-      c.output(doChecks(site, actualContents, checkerFn));
+      try {
+        ActualT actualContents = Iterables.getOnlyElement(c.element());
+        c.output(doChecks(site, actualContents, checkerFn));
+      } catch (NoSuchElementException e) {
+        c.output(
+            SuccessOrFailure.failure(
+                site,
+                new IllegalArgumentException(
+                    "expected singleton PCollection but was: empty PCollection", e)));
+      } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+        c.output(SuccessOrFailure.failure(site, e));
+      }
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/testing/PAssertTest.java b/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/testing/PAssertTest.java
index dfdb6282b5496..a02196bb2c05f 100644
--- a/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/testing/PAssertTest.java
+++ b/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/testing/PAssertTest.java
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.coders.AtomicCoder;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.coders.CoderException;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.coders.SerializableCoder;
+import org.apache.beam.sdk.coders.VarIntCoder;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.coders.VarLongCoder;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.io.GenerateSequence;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.PAssert.MatcherCheckerFn;
@@ -386,6 +387,36 @@ public void testPAssertEqualsSingletonFalse() throws Exception {
     assertThat(message, containsString("but: was <42>"));
   }
 
+  @Test
+  @Category({ValidatesRunner.class, UsesFailureMessage.class})
+  public void testPAssertEqualsSingletonFailsForEmptyPCollection() throws Exception {
+    PCollection<Integer> pcollection = pipeline.apply(Create.empty(VarIntCoder.of()));
+    PAssert.thatSingleton("The value was not equal to 44", pcollection).isEqualTo(44);
+
+    Throwable thrown = runExpectingAssertionFailure(pipeline);
+
+    String message = thrown.getMessage();
+
+    assertThat(message, containsString("The value was not equal to 44"));
+    assertThat(message, containsString("expected singleton PCollection"));
+    assertThat(message, containsString("but was: empty PCollection"));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  @Category({ValidatesRunner.class, UsesFailureMessage.class})
+  public void testPAssertEqualsSingletonFailsForNonSingletonPCollection() throws Exception {
+    PCollection<Integer> pcollection = pipeline.apply(Create.of(44, 44));
+    PAssert.thatSingleton("The value was not equal to 44", pcollection).isEqualTo(44);
+
+    Throwable thrown = runExpectingAssertionFailure(pipeline);
+
+    String message = thrown.getMessage();
+
+    assertThat(message, containsString("The value was not equal to 44"));
+    assertThat(message, containsString("expected one element"));
+    assertThat(message, containsString("but was: <44, 44>"));
+  }
+
   /** Test that we throw an error for false assertion on singleton. */
   @Test
   @Category({ValidatesRunner.class, UsesFailureMessage.class})