diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/concurrent/AtomicArray.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/concurrent/AtomicArray.java
index fa82aa0ac634a..18aa1578a6619 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/concurrent/AtomicArray.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/concurrent/AtomicArray.java
@@ -45,6 +45,23 @@ public int length() {
         return array.length();
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Returns the size of the expected results, excluding potential null values.
+     * @return the number of non-null elements
+     */
+    public int nonNullLength() {
+        if (nonNullList != null) {
+            return nonNullList.size();
+        }
+        int count = 0;
+        for (int i = 0; i < array.length(); i++) {
+            if (array.get(i) != null) {
+                count++;
+            }
+        }
+        return count;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Sets the element at position {@code i} to the given value.
      *
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/async-search/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/search/MutableSearchResponse.java b/x-pack/plugin/async-search/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/search/MutableSearchResponse.java
index 06c2fe4c875f6..2130c2f0a84ce 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/async-search/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/search/MutableSearchResponse.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/async-search/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/search/MutableSearchResponse.java
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ synchronized AsyncStatusResponse toStatusResponse(String asyncExecutionId, long
                 totalShards,
                 successfulShards,
                 skippedShards,
-                getQueryFailuresCount(),
+                queryFailures == null ? 0 : queryFailures.nonNullLength(),
                 ExceptionsHelper.status(ExceptionsHelper.unwrapCause(failure))
             );
         }
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ synchronized AsyncStatusResponse toStatusResponse(String asyncExecutionId, long
             totalShards,
             successfulShards,
             skippedShards,
-            getQueryFailuresCount(),
+            queryFailures == null ? 0 : queryFailures.nonNullLength(),
             null  // for a still running search, completion status is null
         );
     }
@@ -268,17 +268,4 @@ private ShardSearchFailure[] buildQueryFailures() {
         }
         return failures.toArray(ShardSearchFailure[]::new);
     }
-
-    private int getQueryFailuresCount() {
-        if (queryFailures == null) {
-            return 0;
-        }
-        int count = 0;
-        for (int i = 0; i < queryFailures.length(); i++) {
-            if (queryFailures.get(i) != null) {
-                count++;
-            }
-        }
-        return count;
-    }
 }