diff --git a/tests/rptest/transactions/tx_atomic_produce_consume_test.py b/tests/rptest/transactions/tx_atomic_produce_consume_test.py
index ced1dcbf997e8..32a68172d6058 100644
--- a/tests/rptest/transactions/tx_atomic_produce_consume_test.py
+++ b/tests/rptest/transactions/tx_atomic_produce_consume_test.py
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ def __init__(self,
                  tx_id: str = "transformer-tx",
                  group_id: str = "transformer-group",
                  commit_every: int = 50,
-                 timeout_sec: int = 60):
+                 progress_timeout_sec: int = 60):
         self._src_topic = src_topic
         self._partition_count = partition_count
         self._dst_topic = dst_topic
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ def __init__(self,
         self._produced_to_src = 0
         self._lock = threading.Lock()
         self._tasks = []
-        self._timeout_sec = timeout_sec
+        self._progress_timeout_sec = progress_timeout_sec
         self._error = None
         self._finished_partitions = set()
         self._consumer_cnt = 0
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ def get_high_watermarks(self, topic):
         return {p.id: p.high_watermark for p in rpk.describe_topic(topic)}
 
     def tx_transform(self, tx_id):
-        start = time.time()
+        last_progress = time.time()
         self._logger.info(f"Starting tx-transform with tx_id: {tx_id}")
         producer = ck.Producer({
             'bootstrap.servers': self._redpanda.brokers(),
@@ -162,17 +162,34 @@ def tx_transform(self, tx_id):
         try:
             with self._lock:
                 self._consumer_cnt += 1
+            last_positions = {}
 
-            def reached_end():
+            def made_progress(current_positions: dict):
+                self._logger.info(
+                    f"[{tx_id}] last positions: {last_positions}, current positions: {current_positions}"
+                )
+                for p_id, pos in current_positions.items():
+                    if p_id in last_positions and pos > last_positions[p_id]:
+                        return True
+                    elif p_id not in last_positions:
+                        return True
+                return False
+
+            def get_consumer_positions() -> list:
+                assignments = {tp.partition for tp in consumer.assignment()}
+                if len(assignments) == 0:
+                    return []
+                return consumer.position([
+                    ck.TopicPartition(self._src_topic, p) for p in assignments
+                ])
+
+            def reached_end(positions):
                 high_watermarks = self.get_high_watermarks(self._src_topic)
 
                 assignments = {tp.partition for tp in consumer.assignment()}
                 if len(assignments) == 0:
                     return False
 
-                positions = consumer.position([
-                    ck.TopicPartition(self._src_topic, p) for p in assignments
-                ])
                 end_for = {
                     p.partition
                     for p in positions if p.partition in high_watermarks
@@ -237,12 +254,19 @@ def on_revoke(consumer, partitions):
                             consumer.consumer_group_metadata())
                         producer.commit_transaction()
                         in_transaction = False
+                positions = get_consumer_positions()
 
-                if reached_end():
+                if reached_end(positions):
                     self._logger.info(f"{tx_id} reached end")
                     break
+                positions_dict = {p.partition: p.offset for p in positions}
+
+                if made_progress(positions_dict):
+                    last_progress = time.time()
+
+                last_positions = positions_dict
 
-                if time.time() - start > self._timeout_sec:
+                if time.time() - last_progress > self._progress_timeout_sec:
                     self._logger.error(f"timeout waiting for {tx_id} producer")
                     self._error = TimeoutError(
                         "timeout waiting for {tx_id} producer")
@@ -366,7 +390,7 @@ def simple_transform(k, v):
                                           simple_transform,
                                           self.logger,
                                           2000,
-                                          timeout_sec=180)
+                                          progress_timeout_sec=180)
 
         transformer.start_workload(2)
         transformer.wait_for_finish()