diff --git a/pkg/services/ngalert/state/cache.go b/pkg/services/ngalert/state/cache.go
index 2e584b74122..e0b7a399551 100644
--- a/pkg/services/ngalert/state/cache.go
+++ b/pkg/services/ngalert/state/cache.go
@@ -34,23 +34,54 @@ func newCache() *cache {
 }
 
 func (c *cache) getOrCreate(ctx context.Context, log log.Logger, alertRule *ngModels.AlertRule, result eval.Result, extraLabels data.Labels, externalURL *url.URL) *State {
+	// Calculation of state ID involves label and annotation expansion, which may be resource intensive operations, and doing it in the context guarded by mtxStates may create a lot of contention.
+	// Instead of just calculating ID we create an entire state - a candidate. If rule states already hold a state with this ID, this candidate will be discarded and the existing one will be returned.
+	// Otherwise, this candidate will be added to the rule states and returned.
+	stateCandidate := calculateState(ctx, log, alertRule, result, extraLabels, externalURL)
+
 	c.mtxStates.Lock()
 	defer c.mtxStates.Unlock()
+
 	var orgStates map[string]*ruleStates
 	var ok bool
-	if orgStates, ok = c.states[alertRule.OrgID]; !ok {
+	if orgStates, ok = c.states[stateCandidate.OrgID]; !ok {
 		orgStates = make(map[string]*ruleStates)
-		c.states[alertRule.OrgID] = orgStates
+		c.states[stateCandidate.OrgID] = orgStates
 	}
 	var states *ruleStates
-	if states, ok = orgStates[alertRule.UID]; !ok {
+	if states, ok = orgStates[stateCandidate.AlertRuleUID]; !ok {
 		states = &ruleStates{states: make(map[string]*State)}
-		c.states[alertRule.OrgID][alertRule.UID] = states
+		c.states[stateCandidate.OrgID][stateCandidate.AlertRuleUID] = states
 	}
-	return states.getOrCreate(ctx, log, alertRule, result, extraLabels, externalURL)
+	return states.getOrAdd(stateCandidate)
 }
 
-func (rs *ruleStates) getOrCreate(ctx context.Context, log log.Logger, alertRule *ngModels.AlertRule, result eval.Result, extraLabels data.Labels, externalURL *url.URL) *State {
+func (rs *ruleStates) getOrAdd(stateCandidate State) *State {
+	state, ok := rs.states[stateCandidate.CacheID]
+	// Check if the state with this ID already exists.
+	if !ok {
+		rs.states[stateCandidate.CacheID] = &stateCandidate
+		return &stateCandidate
+	}
+
+	// Annotations can change over time, however we also want to maintain
+	// certain annotations across evaluations
+	for k, v := range state.Annotations {
+		if _, ok := ngModels.InternalAnnotationNameSet[k]; ok {
+			// If the annotation is not present then it should be copied from the
+			// previous state to the next state
+			if _, ok := stateCandidate.Annotations[k]; !ok {
+				stateCandidate.Annotations[k] = v
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	state.Annotations = stateCandidate.Annotations
+	state.Values = stateCandidate.Values
+	rs.states[stateCandidate.CacheID] = state
+	return state
+}
+
+func calculateState(ctx context.Context, log log.Logger, alertRule *ngModels.AlertRule, result eval.Result, extraLabels data.Labels, externalURL *url.URL) State {
 	// Merge both the extra labels and the labels from the evaluation into a common set
 	// of labels that can be expanded in custom labels and annotations.
 	templateData := template.NewData(mergeLabels(extraLabels, result.Instance), result)
@@ -108,27 +139,9 @@ func (rs *ruleStates) getOrCreate(ctx context.Context, log log.Logger, alertRule
 		log.Error("Error getting cacheId for entry", "error", err)
 	}
 
-	if state, ok := rs.states[id]; ok {
-		// Annotations can change over time, however we also want to maintain
-		// certain annotations across evaluations
-		for k, v := range state.Annotations {
-			if _, ok := ngModels.InternalAnnotationNameSet[k]; ok {
-				// If the annotation is not present then it should be copied from the
-				// previous state to the next state
-				if _, ok := annotations[k]; !ok {
-					annotations[k] = v
-				}
-			}
-		}
-		state.Annotations = annotations
-		state.Values = values
-		rs.states[id] = state
-		return state
-	}
-
 	// For new states, we set StartsAt & EndsAt to EvaluatedAt as this is the
 	// expected value for a Normal state during state transition.
-	newState := &State{
+	newState := State{
 		AlertRuleUID:       alertRule.UID,
 		OrgID:              alertRule.OrgID,
 		CacheID:            id,
@@ -139,7 +152,6 @@ func (rs *ruleStates) getOrCreate(ctx context.Context, log log.Logger, alertRule
 		StartsAt:           result.EvaluatedAt,
 		EndsAt:             result.EvaluatedAt,
 	}
-	rs.states[id] = newState
 	return newState
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/services/ngalert/state/cache_bench_test.go b/pkg/services/ngalert/state/cache_bench_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..1373d1ae713
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/services/ngalert/state/cache_bench_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+package state
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"math/rand"
+	"net/url"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/google/uuid"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana-plugin-sdk-go/data"
+
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/infra/log/logtest"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/services/ngalert/eval"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/services/ngalert/models"
+)
+
+func BenchmarkGetOrCreateTest(b *testing.B) {
+	cache := newCache()
+	rule := models.AlertRuleGen(func(rule *models.AlertRule) {
+		for i := 0; i < 2; i++ {
+			rule.Labels = data.Labels{
+				"label-1": "{{ $value }}",
+				"label-2": "{{ $values.A.Labels.instance }} has value {{ $values.A }}",
+			}
+			rule.Annotations = data.Labels{
+				"anno-1": "{{ $value }}",
+				"anno-2": "{{ $values.A.Labels.instance }} has value {{ $values.A }}",
+			}
+		}
+	})()
+	result := eval.ResultGen(func(r *eval.Result) {
+		r.Values = map[string]eval.NumberValueCapture{
+			"A": {
+				Var:    "A",
+				Labels: data.Labels{"instance": uuid.New().String()},
+				Value:  func(f float64) *float64 { return &f }(rand.Float64()),
+			},
+		}
+	})()
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	log := &logtest.Fake{}
+	u, _ := url.Parse("http://localhost")
+	// values := make([]int64, count)
+	b.RunParallel(func(pb *testing.PB) {
+		for pb.Next() {
+			_ = cache.getOrCreate(ctx, log, rule, result, nil, u)
+		}
+	})
+}