diff --git a/packages/grafana-data/src/field/fieldOverrides.ts b/packages/grafana-data/src/field/fieldOverrides.ts
index 936f4c6d5e7..0924a417231 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-data/src/field/fieldOverrides.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-data/src/field/fieldOverrides.ts
@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@ export function setFieldConfigDefaults(config: FieldConfig, defaults: FieldConfi
 
   // if we have a base threshold set by default but not on the config, we need to merge it in
   const defaultBaseStep =
-    defaults.thresholds?.mode === ThresholdsMode.Absolute &&
+    defaults?.thresholds?.mode === ThresholdsMode.Absolute &&
     defaults.thresholds?.steps.find((step) => step.value === -Infinity);
   if (
     config.thresholds?.mode === ThresholdsMode.Absolute &&
diff --git a/public/app/features/transformers/configFromQuery/configFromQuery.test.ts b/public/app/features/transformers/configFromQuery/configFromQuery.test.ts
index dbf6e024eb2..4dc249fc19d 100644
--- a/public/app/features/transformers/configFromQuery/configFromQuery.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/transformers/configFromQuery/configFromQuery.test.ts
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ describe('config from data', () => {
 
     const results = extractConfigFromQuery(options, [config, seriesA]);
     expect(results.length).toBe(1);
-    const thresholdConfig = results[0].fields[1].config.thresholds?.steps[1];
+    const thresholdConfig = results[0].fields[1].config.thresholds?.steps[0];
     expect(thresholdConfig).toBeDefined();
     expect(thresholdConfig?.color).toBe('orange');
     expect(thresholdConfig?.value).toBe(50);
diff --git a/public/app/features/transformers/rowsToFields/rowsToFields.test.ts b/public/app/features/transformers/rowsToFields/rowsToFields.test.ts
index 333fa1ae093..f6e458db2b8 100644
--- a/public/app/features/transformers/rowsToFields/rowsToFields.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/transformers/rowsToFields/rowsToFields.test.ts
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ describe('Rows to fields', () => {
     });
 
     const result = rowsToFields({}, input);
-    expect(result.fields[0].config.thresholds?.steps[1].value).toBe(30);
+    expect(result.fields[0].config.thresholds?.steps[0].value).toBe(30);
   });
 
   it('Will extract other string fields to labels', () => {