diff --git a/packages/replay-internal/src/integration.ts b/packages/replay-internal/src/integration.ts
index 527100272d05..2b1ef71287ae 100644
--- a/packages/replay-internal/src/integration.ts
+++ b/packages/replay-internal/src/integration.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-import { getClient, parseSampleRate } from '@sentry/core';
-import type { BrowserClientReplayOptions, Integration, IntegrationFn } from '@sentry/types';
+import { parseSampleRate } from '@sentry/core';
+import type { BrowserClientReplayOptions, Client, Integration, IntegrationFn } from '@sentry/types';
 import { consoleSandbox, dropUndefinedKeys, isBrowser } from '@sentry/utils';
 
 import {
@@ -215,13 +215,13 @@ export class Replay implements Integration {
   /**
    * Setup and initialize replay container
    */
-  public setupOnce(): void {
-    if (!isBrowser()) {
+  public afterAllSetup(client: Client): void {
+    if (!isBrowser() || this._replay) {
       return;
     }
 
-    this._setup();
-    this._initialize();
+    this._setup(client);
+    this._initialize(client);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -292,24 +292,19 @@ export class Replay implements Integration {
   /**
    * Initializes replay.
    */
-  protected _initialize(): void {
+  protected _initialize(client: Client): void {
     if (!this._replay) {
       return;
     }
 
-    // We have to run this in _initialize, because this runs in setTimeout
-    // So when this runs all integrations have been added
-    // Before this, we cannot access integrations on the client,
-    // so we need to mutate the options here
-    this._maybeLoadFromReplayCanvasIntegration();
-
+    this._maybeLoadFromReplayCanvasIntegration(client);
     this._replay.initializeSampling();
   }
 
   /** Setup the integration. */
-  private _setup(): void {
+  private _setup(client: Client): void {
     // Client is not available in constructor, so we need to wait until setupOnce
-    const finalOptions = loadReplayOptionsFromClient(this._initialOptions);
+    const finalOptions = loadReplayOptionsFromClient(this._initialOptions, client);
 
     this._replay = new ReplayContainer({
       options: finalOptions,
@@ -318,12 +313,11 @@ export class Replay implements Integration {
   }
 
   /** Get canvas options from ReplayCanvas integration, if it is also added. */
-  private _maybeLoadFromReplayCanvasIntegration(): void {
+  private _maybeLoadFromReplayCanvasIntegration(client: Client): void {
     // To save bundle size, we skip checking for stuff here
     // and instead just try-catch everything - as generally this should all be defined
     /* eslint-disable @typescript-eslint/no-non-null-assertion */
     try {
-      const client = getClient()!;
       const canvasIntegration = client.getIntegrationByName('ReplayCanvas') as Integration & {
         getOptions(): ReplayCanvasIntegrationOptions;
       };
@@ -340,9 +334,8 @@ export class Replay implements Integration {
 }
 
 /** Parse Replay-related options from SDK options */
-function loadReplayOptionsFromClient(initialOptions: InitialReplayPluginOptions): ReplayPluginOptions {
-  const client = getClient();
-  const opt = client && (client.getOptions() as BrowserClientReplayOptions);
+function loadReplayOptionsFromClient(initialOptions: InitialReplayPluginOptions, client: Client): ReplayPluginOptions {
+  const opt = client.getOptions() as BrowserClientReplayOptions;
 
   const finalOptions: ReplayPluginOptions = {
     sessionSampleRate: 0,
@@ -350,14 +343,6 @@ function loadReplayOptionsFromClient(initialOptions: InitialReplayPluginOptions)
     ...dropUndefinedKeys(initialOptions),
   };
 
-  if (!opt) {
-    consoleSandbox(() => {
-      // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
-      console.warn('SDK client is not available.');
-    });
-    return finalOptions;
-  }
-
   const replaysSessionSampleRate = parseSampleRate(opt.replaysSessionSampleRate);
   const replaysOnErrorSampleRate = parseSampleRate(opt.replaysOnErrorSampleRate);
 
diff --git a/packages/replay-internal/test/integration/coreHandlers/handleGlobalEvent.test.ts b/packages/replay-internal/test/integration/coreHandlers/handleGlobalEvent.test.ts
index ebe43c25eb98..1526e7175f4f 100644
--- a/packages/replay-internal/test/integration/coreHandlers/handleGlobalEvent.test.ts
+++ b/packages/replay-internal/test/integration/coreHandlers/handleGlobalEvent.test.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { getClient } from '@sentry/core';
 import type { Event } from '@sentry/types';
 
 import { REPLAY_EVENT_NAME, SESSION_IDLE_EXPIRE_DURATION } from '../../../src/constants';
@@ -133,8 +134,8 @@ describe('Integration | coreHandlers | handleGlobalEvent', () => {
 
   it('tags errors and transactions with replay id for session samples', async () => {
     const { replay, integration } = await resetSdkMock({});
-    // @ts-expect-error protected but ok to use for testing
-    integration._initialize();
+    integration['_initialize'](getClient()!);
+
     const transaction = Transaction();
     const error = Error();
     expect(handleGlobalEventListener(replay)(transaction, {})).toEqual(
diff --git a/packages/replay-internal/test/integration/errorSampleRate.test.ts b/packages/replay-internal/test/integration/errorSampleRate.test.ts
index b3b605f28c12..ef6d80dfeac6 100644
--- a/packages/replay-internal/test/integration/errorSampleRate.test.ts
+++ b/packages/replay-internal/test/integration/errorSampleRate.test.ts
@@ -866,7 +866,7 @@ describe('Integration | errorSampleRate', () => {
       },
       autoStart: false,
     });
-    integration['_initialize']();
+    integration['_initialize'](getClient()!);
 
     expect(replay.recordingMode).toBe('session');
     const sessionId = replay.getSessionId();
@@ -899,7 +899,7 @@ describe('Integration | errorSampleRate', () => {
       },
       autoStart: false,
     });
-    integration['_initialize']();
+    integration['_initialize'](getClient()!);
 
     vi.runAllTimers();
 
@@ -943,7 +943,7 @@ describe('Integration | errorSampleRate', () => {
       },
       autoStart: false,
     });
-    integration['_initialize']();
+    integration['_initialize'](getClient()!);
     const optionsEvent = createOptionsEvent(replay);
 
     const TEST_EVENT = getTestEventIncremental({ timestamp: BASE_TIMESTAMP });
diff --git a/packages/replay-internal/test/integration/sampling.test.ts b/packages/replay-internal/test/integration/sampling.test.ts
index 433a010b76aa..c0e5404056a1 100644
--- a/packages/replay-internal/test/integration/sampling.test.ts
+++ b/packages/replay-internal/test/integration/sampling.test.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { getClient } from '@sentry/core';
 import { resetSdkMock } from '../mocks/resetSdkMock';
 import { useFakeTimers } from '../utils/use-fake-timers';
 
@@ -57,8 +58,7 @@ describe('Integration | sampling', () => {
     // @ts-expect-error private API
     const spyAddListeners = vi.spyOn(replay, '_addListeners');
 
-    // @ts-expect-error protected
-    integration._initialize();
+    integration['_initialize'](getClient()!);
 
     vi.runAllTimers();
 
diff --git a/packages/replay-internal/test/mocks/mockSdk.ts b/packages/replay-internal/test/mocks/mockSdk.ts
index d5c9a088b779..38adc7f9c476 100644
--- a/packages/replay-internal/test/mocks/mockSdk.ts
+++ b/packages/replay-internal/test/mocks/mockSdk.ts
@@ -61,12 +61,8 @@ export async function mockSdk({ replayOptions, sentryOptions, autoStart = true }
       _initialized = value;
     }
 
-    public setupOnce(): void {
-      // do nothing
-    }
-
-    public initialize(): void {
-      return super._initialize();
+    public afterAllSetup(): void {
+      // do nothing, we need to manually initialize this
     }
   }
 
@@ -76,7 +72,7 @@ export async function mockSdk({ replayOptions, sentryOptions, autoStart = true }
     ...replayOptions,
   });
 
-  init({
+  const client = init({
     ...getDefaultClientOptions(),
     dsn: 'https://dsn@ingest.f00.f00/1',
     autoSessionTracking: false,
@@ -86,14 +82,14 @@ export async function mockSdk({ replayOptions, sentryOptions, autoStart = true }
     replaysOnErrorSampleRate: 0.0,
     ...sentryOptions,
     integrations: [replayIntegration],
-  });
+  })!;
 
-  // Instead of `setupOnce`, which is tricky to test, we call this manually here
-  replayIntegration['_setup']();
+  // Instead of `afterAllSetup`, which is tricky to test, we call this manually here
+  replayIntegration['_setup'](client);
 
   if (autoStart) {
     // Only exists in our mock
-    replayIntegration.initialize();
+    replayIntegration['_initialize'](client);
   }
 
   const replay = replayIntegration['_replay']!;
diff --git a/packages/replay-internal/test/utils/TestClient.ts b/packages/replay-internal/test/utils/TestClient.ts
index f95eb5309bcb..2651dfe1c91a 100644
--- a/packages/replay-internal/test/utils/TestClient.ts
+++ b/packages/replay-internal/test/utils/TestClient.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { BaseClient, createTransport, initAndBind } from '@sentry/core';
 import type {
   BrowserClientReplayOptions,
+  Client,
   ClientOptions,
   Event,
   ParameterizedString,
@@ -33,8 +34,8 @@ export class TestClient extends BaseClient<TestClientOptions> {
   }
 }
 
-export function init(options: TestClientOptions): void {
-  initAndBind(TestClient, options);
+export function init(options: TestClientOptions): Client {
+  return initAndBind(TestClient, options);
 }
 
 export function getDefaultClientOptions(options: Partial<TestClientOptions> = {}): ClientOptions {