diff --git a/commit-graph.c b/commit-graph.c
index 0aea7b2ae5..071e1c6e9b 100644
--- a/commit-graph.c
+++ b/commit-graph.c
@@ -1103,7 +1103,7 @@ static void compute_generation_numbers(struct write_commit_graph_context *ctx)
 	struct commit_list *list = NULL;
 
 	if (ctx->report_progress)
-		ctx->progress = start_progress(
+		ctx->progress = start_delayed_progress(
 					_("Computing commit graph generation numbers"),
 					ctx->commits.nr);
 	for (i = 0; i < ctx->commits.nr; i++) {
diff --git a/t/t6500-gc.sh b/t/t6500-gc.sh
index 7f79eedd1c..0a69a67117 100755
--- a/t/t6500-gc.sh
+++ b/t/t6500-gc.sh
@@ -109,7 +109,8 @@ test_expect_success 'gc --no-quiet' '
 '
 
 test_expect_success TTY 'with TTY: gc --no-quiet' '
-	test_terminal git -c gc.writeCommitGraph=true gc --no-quiet >stdout 2>stderr &&
+	test_terminal env GIT_PROGRESS_DELAY=0 \
+		git -c gc.writeCommitGraph=true gc --no-quiet >stdout 2>stderr &&
 	test_must_be_empty stdout &&
 	test_i18ngrep "Enumerating objects" stderr &&
 	test_i18ngrep "Computing commit graph generation numbers" stderr