diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 005ac768f3b..3cddd45ac93 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -22,12 +22,13 @@ jobs:
 
     steps:
       - name: "Create release output"
-        run: echo '🎬 Release process for version ${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION }} started by @${{ github.triggering_actor }}' >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
-
+        run: echo "🎬 Release process for version ${RELEASE_VERSION} started by @${GITHUB_TRIGGERING_ACTOR}" >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
+      
       - uses: mongodb-labs/drivers-github-tools/secure-checkout@v2
         with:
           app_id: ${{ vars.APP_ID }}
           private_key: ${{ secrets.APP_PRIVATE_KEY }}
+          fetch-depth: 0
 
       - name: "Store version numbers in env variables"
         # The awk command to increase the version number was copied from
@@ -42,29 +43,36 @@ jobs:
         # RELEASE_BRANCH: The name of the stable branch for this release series
         #   Example: 5.2.0 => 5.2.x
         #   Example: 5.2.0-beta1 => <current branch>
+        env:
+          INPUT_VERSION: ${{ inputs.version }}
         run: |
-          echo RELEASE_VERSION=${{ inputs.version }} >> $GITHUB_ENV
-          echo RELEASE_VERSION_WITHOUT_SUFFIX=$(echo ${{ inputs.version }} | awk -F- '{print $1}') >> $GITHUB_ENV
-          if [[ "${{ inputs.version }}" =~ (alpha|beta|rc)[0-9]+$ ]]; then
-            echo NEXT_VERSION=$(echo ${{ inputs.version }} | awk -F- '{print $1}') >> $GITHUB_ENV
-            echo RELEASE_BRANCH=${{ github.ref_name }} >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          echo CURRENT_TAG=$(git \
+            -c versionsort.suffix=-alpha \
+            -c versionsort.suffix=-beta \
+            -c versionsort.suffix=-rc \
+            tag --list 'r*' --sort=-v:refname | head -n 1) >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          echo RELEASE_VERSION=${INPUT_VERSION} >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          echo RELEASE_VERSION_WITHOUT_SUFFIX=$(echo ${INPUT_VERSION} | awk -F- '{print $1}') >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          if [[ "${INPUT_VERSION}" =~ (alpha|beta|rc)[0-9]+$ ]]; then
+            echo NEXT_VERSION=$(echo ${INPUT_VERSION} | awk -F- '{print $1}') >> $GITHUB_ENV
+            echo RELEASE_BRANCH=${GITHUB_REF_NAME} >> $GITHUB_ENV
           else
-            echo NEXT_VERSION=$(echo ${{ inputs.version }} | awk -F. -v OFS=. '{$NF += 1 ; print}') >> $GITHUB_ENV
-            echo RELEASE_BRANCH=$(echo ${{ inputs.version }} | awk -F. -v OFS=. '{$NF = "x" ; print}') >> $GITHUB_ENV
+            echo NEXT_VERSION=$(echo ${INPUT_VERSION} | awk -F. -v OFS=. '{$NF += 1 ; print}') >> $GITHUB_ENV
+            echo RELEASE_BRANCH=$(echo ${INPUT_VERSION} | awk -F. -v OFS=. '{$NF = "x" ; print}') >> $GITHUB_ENV
           fi
 
       - name: "Ensure current snapshot version matches release version"
         run: |
-          grep -q "version=${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION_WITHOUT_SUFFIX }}-SNAPSHOT" gradle.properties
+          grep -q "version=${RELEASE_VERSION_WITHOUT_SUFFIX}-SNAPSHOT" gradle.properties
           if [[ $? != 0 ]]; then
-            echo '❌ Release failed: version in gradle.properties is not a snapshot for release version ${{ inputs.version }}' >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
+            echo "❌ Release failed: version in gradle.properties is not a snapshot for release version ${RELEASE_VERSION}" >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
             exit 1
           fi
 
       - name: "Ensure release tag does not already exist"
         run: |
-          if [[ $(git tag -l r${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION }}) == r${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION }} ]]; then
-            echo '❌ Release failed: tag for version ${{ inputs.version }} already exists' >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
+          if [[ $(git tag -l r${RELEASE_VERSION}) == r${RELEASE_VERSION} ]]; then
+            echo "❌ Release failed: tag for version ${RELEASE_VERSION} already exists" >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
             exit 1
           fi
 
@@ -74,7 +82,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: "Fail if patch release is created from wrong release branch"
         if: ${{ !endsWith(env.RELEASE_VERSION_WITHOUT_SUFFIX, '.0') && env.RELEASE_BRANCH != github.ref_name }}
         run: |
-          echo '❌ Release failed due to branch mismatch: expected ${{ inputs.version }} to be released from ${{ env.RELEASE_BRANCH }}, got ${{ github.ref_name }}' >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
+          echo "❌ Release failed due to branch mismatch: expected ${RELEASE_VERSION} to be released from ${RELEASE_BRANCH}, got ${GITHUB_REF_NAME}" >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
           exit 1
 
       # For non-patch releases (A.B.C where C == 0), we expect the release to
@@ -83,16 +91,18 @@ jobs:
       - name: "Fail if non-patch release is created from wrong release branch"
         if: ${{ endsWith(env.RELEASE_VERSION_WITHOUT_SUFFIX, '.0') && env.RELEASE_BRANCH != github.ref_name && github.ref_name != 'main' }}
         run: |
-          echo '❌ Release failed due to branch mismatch: expected ${{ inputs.version }} to be released from ${{ env.RELEASE_BRANCH }} or main, got ${{ github.ref_name }}' >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
+          echo "❌ Release failed due to branch mismatch: expected ${RELEASE_VERSION} to be released from ${RELEASE_BRANCH} or main, got ${GITHUB_REF_NAME}" >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
           exit 1
 
       # Set commit author information to the user that triggered the release workflow
       - name: "Set git author information"
+        env:
+          ACTOR: ${{ github.actor }}
         run: |
-          GITHUB_USER_NAME=$(gh api users/${{ github.actor }} --jq '.name')
-          GITHUB_USER_ID=$(gh api users/${{ github.actor }} --jq '.id')
+          GITHUB_USER_NAME=$(gh api users/${ACTOR} --jq '.name')
+          GITHUB_USER_ID=$(gh api users/${ACTOR} --jq '.id')
           git config user.name "${GITHUB_USER_NAME}"
-          git config user.email "${GITHUB_USER_ID}+${{ github.actor }}@users.noreply.github.com"
+          git config user.email "${GITHUB_USER_ID}+${ACTOR}@users.noreply.github.com"
 
       # If a non-patch release is created from a branch other than its
       # maintenance branch, create that branch from the current one and push it
@@ -101,39 +111,40 @@ jobs:
       - name: "Create new release branch for non-patch release"
         if: ${{ endsWith(env.RELEASE_VERSION, '.0') && env.RELEASE_BRANCH != github.ref_name }}
         run: |
-          echo '🆕 Creating new release branch ${{ env.RELEASE_BRANCH }} from ${{ github.ref_name }}' >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
-          git checkout -b ${{ env.RELEASE_BRANCH }}
-          NEXT_MINOR_VERSION=$(echo "${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION }}" | awk -F. -v OFS=. '{$2 += 1 ; $NF = 0 ; print}')
-          echo "➡️ Bumping version for ${{ github.ref_name }} branch to ${NEXT_MINOR_VERSION}" >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
-          git checkout ${{ github.ref_name }}
-          .github/workflows/bump-version.sh "${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION_WITHOUT_SUFFIX }}-SNAPSHOT" "${NEXT_MINOR_VERSION}-SNAPSHOT"
-          git push origin ${{ github.ref_name }}
-          git checkout ${{ env.RELEASE_BRANCH }}
+          echo "🆕 Creating new release branch ${RELEASE_BRANCH} from ${GITHUB_REF_NAME}" >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
+          git checkout -b ${RELEASE_BRANCH}
+          NEXT_MINOR_VERSION=$(echo "${RELEASE_VERSION}" | awk -F. -v OFS=. '{$2 += 1 ; $NF = 0 ; print}')
+          echo "➡️ Bumping version for ${GITHUB_REF_NAME} branch to ${NEXT_MINOR_VERSION}" >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
+          git checkout ${GITHUB_REF_NAME}
+          .github/workflows/bump-version.sh "${RELEASE_VERSION_WITHOUT_SUFFIX}-SNAPSHOT" "${NEXT_MINOR_VERSION}-SNAPSHOT"
+          git push origin ${GITHUB_REF_NAME}
+          git checkout ${RELEASE_BRANCH}
 
       # This step bumps version numbers in gradle.properties and creates git artifacts for the release
       - name: "Bump version numbers and create release tag"
-        run: .github/workflows/bump-and-tag.sh "${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION_WITHOUT_SUFFIX }}" "${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION }}" "${{ env.NEXT_VERSION }}"
+        run: .github/workflows/bump-and-tag.sh "${RELEASE_VERSION_WITHOUT_SUFFIX}" "${RELEASE_VERSION}" "${NEXT_VERSION}"
 
       - name: "Push release branch and tag"
         run: |
-          git push origin ${{ env.RELEASE_BRANCH }}
-          git push origin r${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION }}
+          git push origin ${RELEASE_BRANCH}
+          git push origin r${RELEASE_VERSION}
 
       - name: "Create draft release with generated changelog"
         run: |
-          if [[ "${{ inputs.version }}" =~ (alpha|beta|rc) ]]; then
+          if [[ "${RELEASE_VERSION}" =~ (alpha|beta|rc) ]]; then
             PRERELEASE="--prerelease --latest=false"
           fi
           echo "RELEASE_URL=$(\
           gh release create r${RELEASE_VERSION} \
             ${PRERELEASE} \
-            --target ${{ env.RELEASE_BRANCH }} \
-            --title "Java Driver ${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION }} ($(date '+%B %d, %Y'))" \
+            --target ${RELEASE_BRANCH} \
+            --title "Java Driver ${RELEASE_VERSION} ($(date '+%B %d, %Y'))" \
             --generate-notes \
+            --notes-start-tag "${CURRENT_TAG}" \
             --draft\
           )" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
 
       - name: "Set summary"
         run: |
-          echo '🚀 Created tag and drafted release for version [${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION }}](${{ env.RELEASE_URL }})' >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
+          echo "🚀 Created tag and drafted release for version [${RELEASE_VERSION}](${RELEASE_URL})" >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
           echo '✍️ You may now update the release notes and publish the release when ready' >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY