diff --git a/src/gstreamer/gstlibcameraallocator.cpp b/src/gstreamer/gstlibcameraallocator.cpp
index b0c84893a..57405e083 100644
--- a/src/gstreamer/gstlibcameraallocator.cpp
+++ b/src/gstreamer/gstlibcameraallocator.cpp
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
  * GStreamer Custom Allocator
  */
 
+#include <utility>
+
 #include "gstlibcameraallocator.h"
 
 #include <libcamera/camera.h>
@@ -199,15 +201,13 @@ GstLibcameraAllocator *
 gst_libcamera_allocator_new(std::shared_ptr<Camera> camera,
 			    CameraConfiguration *config_)
 {
-	auto *self = GST_LIBCAMERA_ALLOCATOR(g_object_new(GST_TYPE_LIBCAMERA_ALLOCATOR,
-							  nullptr));
+	g_autoptr(GstLibcameraAllocator) self = GST_LIBCAMERA_ALLOCATOR(g_object_new(GST_TYPE_LIBCAMERA_ALLOCATOR,
+										     nullptr));
 	gint ret;
 
 	self->cm_ptr = new std::shared_ptr<CameraManager>(gst_libcamera_get_camera_manager(ret));
-	if (ret) {
-		g_object_unref(self);
+	if (ret)
 		return nullptr;
-	}
 
 	self->fb_allocator = new FrameBufferAllocator(camera);
 	for (StreamConfiguration &streamCfg : *config_) {
@@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ gst_libcamera_allocator_new(std::shared_ptr<Camera> camera,
 		g_hash_table_insert(self->pools, stream, pool);
 	}
 
-	return self;
+	return std::exchange(self, nullptr);
 }
 
 bool