diff --git a/.github/workflows/_e2e_tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/_e2e_tests.yaml
index c6c92ff2f0..5b1cd362d7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/_e2e_tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/_e2e_tests.yaml
@@ -221,6 +221,11 @@ jobs:
         with:
           password: ${{ secrets.PULP_PASSWORD }}
 
+      - name: check availability of KIC image
+        id: check_kic_image
+        if: ${{ inputs.kic-image != '' }}
+        run: (docker manifest inspect ${{ inputs.kic-image }} && echo "kic_image=${{ inputs.kic-image }}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT) || true
+
       - name: split image and tag
         id: split
         env:
@@ -233,6 +238,15 @@ jobs:
             echo "kong-image=$kong_image" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
             echo "kong-tag=$kong_tag" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
           fi
+          if [ "${{ steps.check_kic_image.outputs.kic_image }}" != "" ]; then
+            export kic_image_repo=$(echo ${{ steps.check_kic_image.outputs.kic_image }} | awk '{split($0,a,":"); print a[1]}')
+            export kic_image_tag=$(echo ${{ steps.check_kic_image.outputs.kic_image }} | awk '{split($0,a,":"); print a[2]}')
+            echo "kic-image=$kic_image_repo" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            echo "kic-tag=$kic_image_tag" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT  
+          else
+            echo "kic-image=kong/nightly-ingress-controller" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            echo "kic-tag=nightly" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          fi
           # see the https://github.com/Kong/kubernetes-testing-framework/issues/587 TODO below
           # if we add local image GKE support, we probably need to split it into components here
 
@@ -243,8 +257,8 @@ jobs:
           # therefore we need to use the nightly one.
           # TODO: Once we have a way to load images into GKE, we can use the local image.
           # KTF issue that should enable it: https://github.com/Kong/kubernetes-testing-framework/issues/587
-          TEST_CONTROLLER_IMAGE: "kong/nightly-ingress-controller"
-          TEST_CONTROLLER_TAG: "nightly"
+          TEST_CONTROLLER_IMAGE: ${{ steps.split.outputs.kic-image }}
+          TEST_CONTROLLER_TAG: ${{ steps.split.outputs.kic-tag }}
           TEST_KONG_IMAGE: ${{ steps.split.outputs.kong-image }}
           TEST_KONG_TAG: ${{ steps.split.outputs.kong-tag }}
           TEST_KONG_EFFECTIVE_VERSION: ${{ inputs.kong-effective-version }}