diff --git a/.buildkite/docker-build-push.nix b/.buildkite/docker-build-push.nix
index 8a3b761c597..ccefc5a1294 100644
--- a/.buildkite/docker-build-push.nix
+++ b/.buildkite/docker-build-push.nix
@@ -71,16 +71,16 @@ in
 
     # Apply tagging scheme
     orig_tag="${image.imageName}:${image.imageTag}"
-    git_branch="''${BUILDKITE_BRANCH:-}"
     git_tag="''${BUILDKITE_TAG:-}"
+    git_branch="''${BUILDKITE_BRANCH:-}"
     tags=()
     if [[ "$git_tag" =~ ^v20 ]]; then
       tags+=( "${image.imageTag}" )
       tags+=( "latest" )
-    elif [[ "$git_tag" = "rc-latest" ]]; then
-      tags+=( "$git_tag")
+    elif [[ "$git_branch" =~ ^release-candidate ]]; then
+      tags+=( "release-candidate" )
     else
-      echo 'Not pushing docker image because this is neither a rc-latest nor a v20* tag build.'
+      tags+=( "test")
     fi
 
     echo
diff --git a/.buildkite/pipeline.yml b/.buildkite/pipeline.yml
index ed2373da3ee..c0d68831424 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipeline.yml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipeline.yml
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ steps:
         export BENCHMARK_CSV_FILE="`pwd`/bench-results.csv"
         ./scripts/buildkite/main/bench-latency.sh
       depends_on: trigger-benchmarks
-      timeout_in_minutes: 20
+      timeout_in_minutes: 30
       agents:
         system: x86_64-linux
         queue: adrestia-bench
@@ -431,20 +431,54 @@ steps:
       agents:
         system: ${linux}
 
-  - wait: ~
-
-  - block: Push Docker Image
-    if: build.env("RELEASE_CANDIDATE") == null
-    key: docker-push-block
-
-  - label: Push Docker Image
-    depends_on:
-      - linux-nix
-      - docker-push-block
-    key: build-docker
-    command:
-      - "mkdir -p config && echo '{ outputs = _: { dockerHubRepoName = \"cardanofoundation/cardano-wallet\"; }; }'  > config/flake.nix"
-      - "nix build .#pushDockerImage --override-input hostNixpkgs \"path:$(nix eval --impure -I $NIX_PATH --expr '(import <nixpkgs> {}).path')\" --override-input customConfig path:./config -o docker-build-push"
-      - "./docker-build-push"
-    agents:
-      system: x86_64-linux
+  - group: Docker Artifacts
+    key: docker-artifacts
+    steps:
+      - block: Build Docker Artifacts
+        if: |
+          build.branch !~ /^gh-readonly-queue\/master/
+            && build.branch != "master"
+            && build.env("RELEASE_CANDIDATE") == null
+        key: docker-artifacts-block
+
+      - label: Build Docker Image
+        key: docker-build
+        depends_on:
+          - docker-artifacts-block
+          - linux-nix
+        commands:
+          ./scripts/buildkite/release/docker-build.sh
+        agents:
+          system: x86_64-linux
+
+      - label: Push Docker Image
+        if: build.env("RELEASE_CANDIDATE") != null
+        depends_on:
+          - linux-nix
+          - docker-build
+          - docker-smoke-test
+        key: build-docker
+        command:
+          - "mkdir -p config && echo '{ outputs = _: { dockerHubRepoName = \"cardanofoundation/cardano-wallet\"; }; }'  > config/flake.nix"
+          - "nix build .#pushDockerImage --override-input hostNixpkgs \"path:$(nix eval --impure -I $NIX_PATH --expr '(import <nixpkgs> {}).path')\" --override-input customConfig path:./config -o docker-build-push"
+          - "./docker-build-push"
+        agents:
+          system: x86_64-linux
+
+  - group: Docker Checks
+    key: docker-e2e
+    steps:
+      - label: Smoke Test docker-compose
+        if: build.env("RELEASE_CANDIDATE") != null
+        key: docker-smoke-test
+        depends_on:
+          - docker-build
+        timeout_in_minutes: 120
+        commands:
+          - ./scripts/buildkite/release/docker-smoke-test.sh
+        artifact_paths:
+          - "./logs/*"
+        env:
+          NODE_STATE_DIR: "${STATE_DIR?}/node/preprod"
+        agents:
+          system: x86_64-linux
diff --git a/scripts/buildkite/release/docker-build.sh b/scripts/buildkite/release/docker-build.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..dc0980a6ad4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/buildkite/release/docker-build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#! /usr/bin/env -S nix shell --command bash
+# shellcheck shell=bash
+
+set -euox pipefail
+
+git fetch --all
+
+RELEASE_CANDIDATE_COMMIT=$(buildkite-agent meta-data get "release-candidate-commit" --default="${BUILDKITE_COMMIT}")
+
+git checkout "$RELEASE_CANDIDATE_COMMIT"
+
+mkdir -p result
+
+nix build .#dockerImage -o result/docker-image
+
+docker load < result/docker-image
diff --git a/scripts/buildkite/release/docker-smoke-test.sh b/scripts/buildkite/release/docker-smoke-test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..7f812004831
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/buildkite/release/docker-smoke-test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+#! /usr/bin/env -S nix shell 'nixpkgs#docker-compose' 'nixpkgs#rsync' 'nixpkgs#jq' --command bash
+# shellcheck shell=bash
+
+set -euox pipefail
+
+
+NETWORK=preprod
+export NETWORK
+
+TESTS_NODE_DB="$(pwd)/state/node_db"
+
+mkdir -p "$TESTS_NODE_DB"
+export TESTS_NODE_DB
+
+rsync -a --delete "$NODE_STATE_DIR/db/" "$TESTS_NODE_DB"
+
+WALLET_TAG=$(buildkite-agent meta-data get "release-cabal-version")
+export WALLET_TAG
+
+NODE_TAG="8.9.4"
+export NODE_TAG
+
+NODE_DB="$TESTS_NODE_DB"
+export NODE_DB
+
+WALLET_DB="$(pwd)/state/wallet_db"
+mkdir -p "$WALLET_DB"
+export WALLET_DB
+
+WALLET_PORT=$(shuf -i 2000-65000 -n 1)
+export WALLET_PORT
+
+USER_ID=$(id -u)
+export USER_ID
+
+tmpfile=$(mktemp -d /tmp/node-preprod.XXXXXX)
+
+# set the node socket path
+NODE_SOCKET_DIR="$tmpfile"
+export NODE_SOCKET_DIR
+
+NODE_SOCKET_NAME="node.socket"
+export NODE_SOCKET_NAME
+
+COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME="docker-smoke-test-$WALLET_PORT"
+export COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME
+
+docker compose down || true
+
+docker-compose up -d
+
+n=0
+while :
+do
+    result=$(curl --connect-timeout 1 localhost:"$WALLET_PORT"/v2/network/information || echo "wait")
+    echo "$result"
+    if [ "$result" != "wait" ];
+        then
+            echo "$result" | jq
+            break
+        else
+            sleep 30
+            n=$((n+1))
+    fi
+done
+
+
+mkdir -p logs
+docker-compose logs > logs/docker-compose.log
+docker-compose down
+
+rm -rf "$tmpfile"
+
+if [ "$result" == "wait" ];
+    then
+    echo "Failed to start the wallet server"
+    exit 1
+fi