diff --git a/modules/localstack/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/containers/localstack/LocalStackContainer.java b/modules/localstack/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/containers/localstack/LocalStackContainer.java
index ce50313d429..a7c4ecd978a 100644
--- a/modules/localstack/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/containers/localstack/LocalStackContainer.java
+++ b/modules/localstack/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/containers/localstack/LocalStackContainer.java
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 package org.testcontainers.containers.localstack;
 
-import com.github.dockerjava.api.command.InspectContainerResponse;
 import lombok.Getter;
 import lombok.RequiredArgsConstructor;
 import lombok.experimental.FieldDefaults;
@@ -20,6 +19,7 @@
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 /**
@@ -203,13 +203,19 @@ protected void configure() {
         exposePorts();
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Copied before the container starts: the entrypoint waits only for the script to exist, so copying it
+     * into an already running container can have it executed while still incomplete, exiting with code 126.
+     */
     @Override
-    protected void containerIsStarting(InspectContainerResponse containerInfo) {
+    protected void containerIsCreated(String containerId) {
+        Map<String, String> labels = getDockerClient().inspectContainerCmd(containerId).exec().getConfig().getLabels();
         String command = "#!/bin/bash\n";
-        command += "export LAMBDA_DOCKER_FLAGS=" + configureServiceContainerLabels("LAMBDA_DOCKER_FLAGS") + "\n";
-        command += "export ECS_DOCKER_FLAGS=" + configureServiceContainerLabels("ECS_DOCKER_FLAGS") + "\n";
-        command += "export EC2_DOCKER_FLAGS=" + configureServiceContainerLabels("EC2_DOCKER_FLAGS") + "\n";
-        command += "export BATCH_DOCKER_FLAGS=" + configureServiceContainerLabels("BATCH_DOCKER_FLAGS") + "\n";
+        command +=
+            "export LAMBDA_DOCKER_FLAGS=" + configureServiceContainerLabels("LAMBDA_DOCKER_FLAGS", labels) + "\n";
+        command += "export ECS_DOCKER_FLAGS=" + configureServiceContainerLabels("ECS_DOCKER_FLAGS", labels) + "\n";
+        command += "export EC2_DOCKER_FLAGS=" + configureServiceContainerLabels("EC2_DOCKER_FLAGS", labels) + "\n";
+        command += "export BATCH_DOCKER_FLAGS=" + configureServiceContainerLabels("BATCH_DOCKER_FLAGS", labels) + "\n";
         command += "/usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh\n";
         copyFileToContainer(Transferable.of(command, 0777), STARTER_SCRIPT);
     }
@@ -220,8 +226,8 @@ protected void containerIsStarting(InspectContainerResponse containerInfo) {
      * chance.
      * @return the lambda container labels as a string
      */
-    private String configureServiceContainerLabels(String existingEnvFlagKey) {
-        String internalMarkerFlags = internalMarkerLabels();
+    private String configureServiceContainerLabels(String existingEnvFlagKey, Map<String, String> labels) {
+        String internalMarkerFlags = internalMarkerLabels(labels);
         String existingFlags = getEnvMap().get(existingEnvFlagKey);
         if (existingFlags != null) {
             internalMarkerFlags = existingFlags + " " + internalMarkerFlags;
@@ -233,10 +239,8 @@ private String configureServiceContainerLabels(String existingEnvFlagKey) {
      * Provides a docker argument string including all default labels set on testcontainers containers (excluding reuse labels)
      * @return Argument string in the format `-l key1=value1 -l key2=value2`
      */
-    private String internalMarkerLabels() {
-        return getContainerInfo()
-            .getConfig()
-            .getLabels()
+    private String internalMarkerLabels(Map<String, String> labels) {
+        return labels
             .entrySet()
             .stream()
             .filter(entry -> entry.getKey().startsWith(DockerClientFactory.TESTCONTAINERS_LABEL))
diff --git a/modules/localstack/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/localstack/LocalStackContainer.java b/modules/localstack/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/localstack/LocalStackContainer.java
index 31eee4ca5ca..791de36e9fe 100644
--- a/modules/localstack/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/localstack/LocalStackContainer.java
+++ b/modules/localstack/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/localstack/LocalStackContainer.java
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 package org.testcontainers.localstack;
 
-import com.github.dockerjava.api.command.InspectContainerResponse;
 import lombok.extern.slf4j.Slf4j;
 import org.testcontainers.DockerClientFactory;
 import org.testcontainers.containers.GenericContainer;
@@ -15,6 +14,7 @@
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 /**
@@ -76,13 +76,19 @@ protected void configure() {
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Copied before the container starts: the entrypoint waits only for the script to exist, so copying it
+     * into an already running container can have it executed while still incomplete, exiting with code 126.
+     */
     @Override
-    protected void containerIsStarting(InspectContainerResponse containerInfo) {
+    protected void containerIsCreated(String containerId) {
+        Map<String, String> labels = getDockerClient().inspectContainerCmd(containerId).exec().getConfig().getLabels();
         String command = "#!/bin/bash\n";
-        command += "export LAMBDA_DOCKER_FLAGS=" + configureServiceContainerLabels("LAMBDA_DOCKER_FLAGS") + "\n";
-        command += "export ECS_DOCKER_FLAGS=" + configureServiceContainerLabels("ECS_DOCKER_FLAGS") + "\n";
-        command += "export EC2_DOCKER_FLAGS=" + configureServiceContainerLabels("EC2_DOCKER_FLAGS") + "\n";
-        command += "export BATCH_DOCKER_FLAGS=" + configureServiceContainerLabels("BATCH_DOCKER_FLAGS") + "\n";
+        command +=
+            "export LAMBDA_DOCKER_FLAGS=" + configureServiceContainerLabels("LAMBDA_DOCKER_FLAGS", labels) + "\n";
+        command += "export ECS_DOCKER_FLAGS=" + configureServiceContainerLabels("ECS_DOCKER_FLAGS", labels) + "\n";
+        command += "export EC2_DOCKER_FLAGS=" + configureServiceContainerLabels("EC2_DOCKER_FLAGS", labels) + "\n";
+        command += "export BATCH_DOCKER_FLAGS=" + configureServiceContainerLabels("BATCH_DOCKER_FLAGS", labels) + "\n";
         command += "/usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh\n";
         copyFileToContainer(Transferable.of(command, 0777), STARTER_SCRIPT);
     }
@@ -93,8 +99,8 @@ protected void containerIsStarting(InspectContainerResponse containerInfo) {
      * chance.
      * @return the lambda container labels as a string
      */
-    private String configureServiceContainerLabels(String existingEnvFlagKey) {
-        String internalMarkerFlags = internalMarkerLabels();
+    private String configureServiceContainerLabels(String existingEnvFlagKey, Map<String, String> labels) {
+        String internalMarkerFlags = internalMarkerLabels(labels);
         String existingFlags = getEnvMap().get(existingEnvFlagKey);
         if (existingFlags != null) {
             internalMarkerFlags = existingFlags + " " + internalMarkerFlags;
@@ -106,10 +112,8 @@ private String configureServiceContainerLabels(String existingEnvFlagKey) {
      * Provides a docker argument string including all default labels set on testcontainers containers (excluding reuse labels)
      * @return Argument string in the format `-l key1=value1 -l key2=value2`
      */
-    private String internalMarkerLabels() {
-        return getContainerInfo()
-            .getConfig()
-            .getLabels()
+    private String internalMarkerLabels(Map<String, String> labels) {
+        return labels
             .entrySet()
             .stream()
             .filter(entry -> entry.getKey().startsWith(DockerClientFactory.TESTCONTAINERS_LABEL))
diff --git a/modules/localstack/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/localstack/StarterScriptTest.java b/modules/localstack/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/localstack/StarterScriptTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..59d5cec917e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/localstack/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/localstack/StarterScriptTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+package org.testcontainers.localstack;
+
+import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.testcontainers.containers.localstack.LocalstackTestImages;
+
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+
+class StarterScriptTest {
+
+    @Test
+    void starterScriptIsCompleteBeforeTheContainerStarts() {
+        AtomicReference<String> script = new AtomicReference<>();
+
+        try (
+            LocalStackContainer localstack = new LocalStackContainer(LocalstackTestImages.LOCALSTACK_IMAGE) {
+                @Override
+                protected void containerIsCreated(String containerId) {
+                    super.containerIsCreated(containerId);
+                    script.set(
+                        copyFileFromContainer(
+                            "/testcontainers_start.sh",
+                            stream -> IOUtils.toString(stream, StandardCharsets.UTF_8)
+                        )
+                    );
+                }
+            }
+        ) {
+            localstack.start();
+        }
+
+        // read back while the container was created but not yet started, so the entrypoint could not
+        // have executed a partially copied script
+        assertThat(script.get()).endsWith("/usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh\n");
+    }
+}