diff --git a/include/libcamera/internal/pipeline_handler.h b/include/libcamera/internal/pipeline_handler.h
index c6454db6b2c4..27d45d8ffc20 100644
--- a/include/libcamera/internal/pipeline_handler.h
+++ b/include/libcamera/internal/pipeline_handler.h
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ public:
 
 	virtual int start(Camera *camera, const ControlList *controls) = 0;
 	virtual void stop(Camera *camera) = 0;
+	bool active(const Camera *camera) const;
 
 	void queueRequest(Request *request);
 
diff --git a/src/libcamera/camera.cpp b/src/libcamera/camera.cpp
index 763f3b9926fd..c3fc3dd91bd6 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/camera.cpp
+++ b/src/libcamera/camera.cpp
@@ -1084,6 +1084,8 @@ int Camera::stop()
 	d->pipe_->invokeMethod(&PipelineHandler::stop, ConnectionTypeBlocking,
 			       this);
 
+	ASSERT(!d->pipe_->active(this));
+
 	d->setState(Private::CameraConfigured);
 
 	return 0;
diff --git a/src/libcamera/pipeline_handler.cpp b/src/libcamera/pipeline_handler.cpp
index 3b3150bdbbf7..8629e3578f02 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/pipeline_handler.cpp
+++ b/src/libcamera/pipeline_handler.cpp
@@ -368,6 +368,21 @@ const ControlList &PipelineHandler::properties(const Camera *camera) const
  * \context This function is called from the CameraManager thread.
  */
 
+/**
+ * \brief Determine if the camera has any requests pending
+ * \param[in] camera The camera to check
+ *
+ * This method determines if there are any requests queued to the pipeline
+ * awaiting processing.
+ *
+ * \return True if there are pending requests, or false otherwise
+ */
+bool PipelineHandler::active(const Camera *camera) const
+{
+	const CameraData *data = cameraData(camera);
+	return !data->queuedRequests_.empty();
+}
+
 /**
  * \fn PipelineHandler::queueRequest()
  * \brief Queue a request