diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e81a30944a5..f585cf31346 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Added
+- [E2E] Allow testing with live-chain state - [#1949](https://github.com/paritytech/ink/pull/1949)
 - [E2E] Call builders and extra gas margin option - [#1917](https://github.com/paritytech/ink/pull/1917)
 - Make `set_code_hash` generic - [#1906](https://github.com/paritytech/ink/pull/1906)
 - Clean E2E configuration parsing - [#1922](https://github.com/paritytech/ink/pull/1922)
diff --git a/crates/e2e/macro/src/codegen.rs b/crates/e2e/macro/src/codegen.rs
index d146ee389c2..40c7a91ce6d 100644
--- a/crates/e2e/macro/src/codegen.rs
+++ b/crates/e2e/macro/src/codegen.rs
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ impl InkE2ETest {
     pub fn generate_code(&self) -> TokenStream2 {
         #[cfg(clippy)]
         if true {
-            return quote! {}
+            return quote! {};
         }
 
         let item_fn = &self.test.item_fn.item_fn;
@@ -64,8 +64,12 @@ impl InkE2ETest {
             }
         };
 
+        let node_url = self.test.config.node_url();
+
         let client_building = match self.test.config.backend() {
-            Backend::Full => build_full_client(&environment, exec_build_contracts),
+            Backend::Full => {
+                build_full_client(&environment, exec_build_contracts, node_url)
+            }
             #[cfg(any(test, feature = "drink"))]
             Backend::RuntimeOnly { runtime } => {
                 build_runtime_client(exec_build_contracts, runtime)
@@ -110,22 +114,42 @@ impl InkE2ETest {
     }
 }
 
-fn build_full_client(environment: &syn::Path, contracts: TokenStream2) -> TokenStream2 {
-    quote! {
-        // Spawn a contracts node process just for this test.
-        let node_proc = ::ink_e2e::TestNodeProcess::<::ink_e2e::PolkadotConfig>
-            ::build_with_env_or_default()
-            .spawn()
-            .await
-            .unwrap_or_else(|err|
-                ::core::panic!("Error spawning substrate-contracts-node: {err:?}")
-            );
-
-        let contracts = #contracts;
-        let mut client = ::ink_e2e::Client::<
-            ::ink_e2e::PolkadotConfig,
-            #environment
-        >::new(node_proc.rpc(), contracts).await?;
+fn build_full_client(
+    environment: &syn::Path,
+    contracts: TokenStream2,
+    node_url: Option<String>,
+) -> TokenStream2 {
+    match node_url {
+        Some(url) => {
+            quote! {
+                let rpc = ::ink_e2e::RpcClient::from_url(#url)
+                    .await
+                    .unwrap_or_else(|err|
+                        ::core::panic!("Error connecting to Chopsticks node: {err:?}")
+                    );
+                let contracts = #contracts;
+                let mut client = ::ink_e2e::Client::<
+                    ::ink_e2e::PolkadotConfig,
+                    #environment
+                >::new(rpc, contracts).await?;
+            }
+        }
+        None => {
+            quote! {
+                let node_rpc = ::ink_e2e::TestNodeProcess::<::ink_e2e::PolkadotConfig>
+                    ::build_with_env_or_default()
+                    .spawn()
+                    .await
+                    .unwrap_or_else(|err|
+                        ::core::panic!("Error spawning substrate-contracts-node: {err:?}")
+                    );
+                let contracts = #contracts;
+                let mut client = ::ink_e2e::Client::<
+                    ::ink_e2e::PolkadotConfig,
+                    #environment
+                >::new(node_rpc.rpc(), contracts).await?;
+            }
+        }
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/crates/e2e/macro/src/config.rs b/crates/e2e/macro/src/config.rs
index 383e9c27b69..481c8e468ed 100644
--- a/crates/e2e/macro/src/config.rs
+++ b/crates/e2e/macro/src/config.rs
@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@ pub struct E2EConfig {
     /// The type of the architecture that should be used to run test.
     #[darling(default)]
     backend: Backend,
+    /// The URL to the running node. If not set then a default node instance will be
+    /// spawned per test.
+    node_url: Option<String>,
 }
 
 impl E2EConfig {
@@ -73,6 +76,12 @@ impl E2EConfig {
     pub fn backend(&self) -> Backend {
         self.backend.clone()
     }
+
+    /// The URL to the running node. If not set then a default node instance will be
+    /// spawned per test.
+    pub fn node_url(&self) -> Option<String> {
+        self.node_url.clone()
+    }
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]
@@ -90,6 +99,7 @@ mod tests {
             additional_contracts = "adder/Cargo.toml flipper/Cargo.toml",
             environment = crate::CustomEnvironment,
             backend(runtime_only()),
+            node_url = "ws://127.0.0.1:8000"
         };
         let config =
             E2EConfig::from_list(&NestedMeta::parse_meta_list(input).unwrap()).unwrap();
@@ -104,6 +114,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
 
         assert_eq!(config.backend(), Backend::RuntimeOnly { runtime: None });
+        assert_eq!(config.node_url(), Some(String::from("ws://127.0.0.1:8000")))
     }
 
     #[test]
@@ -120,5 +131,6 @@ mod tests {
                 runtime: Some(syn::parse_quote! { ::ink_e2e::MinimalRuntime })
             }
         );
+        assert_eq!(config.node_url(), None)
     }
 }
diff --git a/crates/e2e/src/lib.rs b/crates/e2e/src/lib.rs
index b620c34d764..3891fab4cb8 100644
--- a/crates/e2e/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/e2e/src/lib.rs
@@ -59,7 +59,10 @@ pub use node_proc::{
 };
 pub use sp_core::H256;
 pub use sp_keyring::AccountKeyring;
-pub use subxt;
+pub use subxt::{
+    self,
+    backend::rpc::RpcClient,
+};
 pub use subxt_client::{
     CallBuilderFinal,
     Client,
diff --git a/integration-tests/e2e-call-runtime/Cargo.toml b/integration-tests/e2e-call-runtime/Cargo.toml
index aba6b35386e..9df477a7558 100644
--- a/integration-tests/e2e-call-runtime/Cargo.toml
+++ b/integration-tests/e2e-call-runtime/Cargo.toml
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ ink = { path = "../../crates/ink", default-features = false }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 ink_e2e = { path = "../../crates/e2e" }
-subxt = { version = "0.32.1", default-features = false }
 
 [lib]
 path = "lib.rs"