diff --git a/public/app/features/explore/state/query.test.ts b/public/app/features/explore/state/query.test.ts
index 8a95b3ef9ee..aea4ce3bda9 100644
--- a/public/app/features/explore/state/query.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/explore/state/query.test.ts
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import {
   storeLogsVolumeDataProviderAction,
 } from './query';
 import { ExploreId, ExploreItemState, StoreState, ThunkDispatch } from 'app/types';
-import { interval, Observable, of } from 'rxjs';
+import { EMPTY, interval, Observable, of } from 'rxjs';
 import {
   ArrayVector,
   DataFrame,
@@ -91,10 +91,8 @@ function setupQueryResponse(state: StoreState) {
 
 describe('runQueries', () => {
   it('should pass dataFrames to state even if there is error in response', async () => {
-    setTimeSrv({
-      init() {},
-    } as any);
-    const { dispatch, getState }: { dispatch: ThunkDispatch; getState: () => StoreState } = configureStore({
+    setTimeSrv({ init() {} } as any);
+    const { dispatch, getState } = configureStore({
       ...(defaultInitialState as any),
     });
     setupQueryResponse(getState());
@@ -102,6 +100,17 @@ describe('runQueries', () => {
     expect(getState().explore[ExploreId.left].showMetrics).toBeTruthy();
     expect(getState().explore[ExploreId.left].graphResult).toBeDefined();
   });
+
+  it('should set state to done if query completes without emitting', async () => {
+    setTimeSrv({ init() {} } as any);
+    const { dispatch, getState } = configureStore({
+      ...(defaultInitialState as any),
+    });
+    (getState().explore[ExploreId.left].datasourceInstance?.query as Mock).mockReturnValueOnce(EMPTY);
+    await dispatch(runQueries(ExploreId.left));
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(() => resolve(''), 500));
+    expect(getState().explore[ExploreId.left].queryResponse.state).toBe(LoadingState.Done);
+  });
 });
 
 describe('running queries', () => {
diff --git a/public/app/features/explore/state/query.ts b/public/app/features/explore/state/query.ts
index 6e0dc801329..e4eee245df3 100644
--- a/public/app/features/explore/state/query.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/explore/state/query.ts
@@ -449,8 +449,8 @@ export const runQueries = (
             )
           )
         )
-        .subscribe(
-          (data) => {
+        .subscribe({
+          next(data) {
             dispatch(queryStreamUpdatedAction({ exploreId, response: data }));
 
             // Keep scanning for results if this was the last scanning transaction
@@ -465,12 +465,15 @@ export const runQueries = (
               }
             }
           },
-          (error) => {
+          error(error) {
             dispatch(notifyApp(createErrorNotification('Query processing error', error)));
             dispatch(changeLoadingStateAction({ exploreId, loadingState: LoadingState.Error }));
             console.error(error);
-          }
-        );
+          },
+          complete() {
+            dispatch(changeLoadingStateAction({ exploreId, loadingState: LoadingState.Done }));
+          },
+        });
 
       if (live) {
         dispatch(
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.test.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.test.ts
index 7e6ff2ef9a8..423e195d9b1 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.test.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,15 @@ import { DEFAULT_LIMIT, TempoJsonData, TempoDatasource, TempoQuery } from './dat
 import mockJson from './mockJsonResponse.json';
 
 describe('Tempo data source', () => {
+  it('returns empty response when traceId is empty', async () => {
+    const ds = new TempoDatasource(defaultSettings);
+    const response = await lastValueFrom(
+      ds.query({ targets: [{ refId: 'refid1', queryType: 'traceId', query: '' } as Partial<TempoQuery>] } as any),
+      { defaultValue: 'empty' }
+    );
+    expect(response).toBe('empty');
+  });
+
   it('parses json fields from backend', async () => {
     setupBackendSrv(
       new MutableDataFrame({
@@ -34,7 +43,7 @@ describe('Tempo data source', () => {
       })
     );
     const ds = new TempoDatasource(defaultSettings);
-    const response = await lastValueFrom(ds.query({ targets: [{ refId: 'refid1' }] } as any));
+    const response = await lastValueFrom(ds.query({ targets: [{ refId: 'refid1', query: '12345' }] } as any));
 
     expect(
       (response.data[0] as DataFrame).fields.map((f) => ({
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.ts
index d70e58680aa..3908e93db11 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { from, merge, Observable, of, throwError } from 'rxjs';
+import { EMPTY, from, merge, Observable, of, throwError } from 'rxjs';
 import { catchError, map, mergeMap, toArray } from 'rxjs/operators';
 import {
   DataQuery,
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ export interface TempoJsonData extends DataSourceJsonData {
   nodeGraph?: NodeGraphOptions;
 }
 
-export type TempoQuery = {
+export interface TempoQuery extends DataQuery {
   query: string;
   // Query to find list of traces, e.g., via Loki
   linkedQuery?: LokiQuery;
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ export type TempoQuery = {
   maxDuration?: string;
   limit?: number;
   serviceMapQuery?: string;
-} & DataQuery;
+}
 
 export const DEFAULT_LIMIT = 20;
 
@@ -152,22 +152,38 @@ export class TempoDatasource extends DataSourceWithBackend<TempoQuery, TempoJson
     }
 
     if (targets.traceId?.length > 0) {
-      const traceRequest: DataQueryRequest<TempoQuery> = { ...options, targets: targets.traceId };
-      subQueries.push(
-        super.query(traceRequest).pipe(
-          map((response) => {
-            if (response.error) {
-              return response;
-            }
-            return transformTrace(response, this.nodeGraph?.enabled);
-          })
-        )
-      );
+      subQueries.push(this.handleTraceIdQuery(options, targets.traceId));
     }
 
     return merge(...subQueries);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Handles the simplest of the queries where we have just a trace id and return trace data for it.
+   * @param options
+   * @param targets
+   * @private
+   */
+  private handleTraceIdQuery(
+    options: DataQueryRequest<TempoQuery>,
+    targets: TempoQuery[]
+  ): Observable<DataQueryResponse> {
+    const validTargets = targets.filter((t) => t.query);
+    if (!validTargets.length) {
+      return EMPTY;
+    }
+
+    const traceRequest: DataQueryRequest<TempoQuery> = { ...options, targets: validTargets };
+    return super.query(traceRequest).pipe(
+      map((response) => {
+        if (response.error) {
+          return response;
+        }
+        return transformTrace(response, this.nodeGraph?.enabled);
+      })
+    );
+  }
+
   async metadataRequest(url: string, params = {}) {
     return await this._request(url, params, { method: 'GET', hideFromInspector: true }).toPromise();
   }