diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.ts
index 0c846361316..ded5e3619dc 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.ts
@@ -173,10 +173,13 @@ export class LokiDatasource
     };
 
     if (this.useBackendMode) {
-      // we "fix" the loki queries to have `.queryType` and not have `.instant` and `.range`
+      const queries = request.targets
+        .map(getNormalizedLokiQuery) // "fix" the `.queryType` prop
+        .map((q) => ({ ...q, maxLines: q.maxLines || this.maxLines })); // set maxLines if not set
+
       const fixedRequest = {
         ...request,
-        targets: request.targets.map(getNormalizedLokiQuery),
+        targets: queries,
       };
 
       const streamQueries = fixedRequest.targets.filter((q) => q.queryType === LokiQueryType.Stream);