diff --git a/pkg/rtc/room.go b/pkg/rtc/room.go
index c677dd51e..0d6dfaff6 100644
--- a/pkg/rtc/room.go
+++ b/pkg/rtc/room.go
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ func (r *Room) Join(participant types.LocalParticipant, opts *ParticipantOptions
 		return ErrAlreadyJoined
 	}
 
-	if r.Room.MaxParticipants > 0 && int(r.Room.MaxParticipants) == len(r.participants) {
+	if r.Room.MaxParticipants > 0 && len(r.participants) >= int(r.Room.MaxParticipants) {
 		prometheus.ServiceOperationCounter.WithLabelValues("participant_join", "error", "max_exceeded").Add(1)
 		return ErrMaxParticipantsExceeded
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/service/roommanager.go b/pkg/service/roommanager.go
index 1dddd23e9..38170d72c 100644
--- a/pkg/service/roommanager.go
+++ b/pkg/service/roommanager.go
@@ -260,6 +260,7 @@ func (r *RoomManager) StartSession(ctx context.Context, roomName livekit.RoomNam
 	}
 	if err = room.Join(participant, &opts, r.iceServersForRoom(room.Room)); err != nil {
 		pLogger.Errorw("could not join room", err)
+		_ = participant.Close(true)
 		return
 	}
 	if err = r.roomStore.StoreParticipant(ctx, roomName, participant.ToProto()); err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/service/rtcservice.go b/pkg/service/rtcservice.go
index e7eaa4fd0..339a0e86b 100644
--- a/pkg/service/rtcservice.go
+++ b/pkg/service/rtcservice.go
@@ -151,8 +151,10 @@ func (s *RTCService) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		_, err := s.store.LoadRoom(context.Background(), roomName)
 		if err == ErrRoomNotFound {
 			handleError(w, 404, err.Error())
+			return
 		} else if err != nil {
 			handleError(w, 500, err.Error())
+			return
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/test/singlenode_test.go b/test/singlenode_test.go
index 72673886b..17dae069d 100644
--- a/test/singlenode_test.go
+++ b/test/singlenode_test.go
@@ -361,6 +361,11 @@ func TestAutoCreate(t *testing.T) {
 		token := joinToken(testRoom, "start-before-create")
 		_, err := testclient.NewWebSocketConn(fmt.Sprintf("ws://localhost:%d", defaultServerPort), token, nil)
 		require.Error(t, err)
+
+		// second join should also fail
+		token = joinToken(testRoom, "start-before-create-2")
+		_, err = testclient.NewWebSocketConn(fmt.Sprintf("ws://localhost:%d", defaultServerPort), token, nil)
+		require.Error(t, err)
 	})
 
 	t.Run("join with explicit createRoom", func(t *testing.T) {