diff --git a/ci-automation/packages.sh b/ci-automation/packages.sh
index a3786bd21e..9e5efe743c 100644
--- a/ci-automation/packages.sh
+++ b/ci-automation/packages.sh
@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@
 # OUTPUT:
 #
 #   1. Exported container image "flatcar-packages-[ARCH]-[VERSION].tar.gz" with binary packages
-#       pushed to buildcache.
+#       pushed to buildcache, and torcx_manifest.json pushed to "images/${arch}/${vernum}/"
+#       (for use with tests).
 #   2. Updated scripts repository
 #        - version tag w/ submodules
 #        - sdk_container/.repo/manifests/version.txt denotes new FLATCAR OS version
@@ -102,6 +103,11 @@ function packages_build() {
         ./build_packages --board="${arch}-usr" \
             --torcx_output_root="${CONTAINER_TORCX_ROOT}"
 
+    # copy torcx manifest for publishing
+    ./run_sdk_container -n "${packages_container}" -v "${version}" \
+        -C "${sdk_image}" \
+        cp "${CONTAINER_TORCX_ROOT}/amd64-usr/latest/torcx_manifest.json" __build__/
+
     # run_sdk_container updates the version file, use that version from here on
     source sdk_container/.repo/manifests/version.txt
     local vernum="${FLATCAR_VERSION}"
@@ -111,6 +117,9 @@ function packages_build() {
     # generate image + push to build cache
     docker_commit_to_buildcache "${packages_container}" "${packages_image}" "${docker_vernum}"
 
+    # Publish torcx manifest to "images" cache so tests can pull it later.
+    copy_to_buildcache "images/${arch}/${vernum}/" __build__/torcx_manifest.json
+
     update_and_push_version "${version}"
 }
 # --
diff --git a/ci-automation/test.sh b/ci-automation/test.sh
index b488ea3f0c..924a791f4b 100644
--- a/ci-automation/test.sh
+++ b/ci-automation/test.sh
@@ -10,8 +10,7 @@
 
 # Test scenarios runner stub.
 #   This script will run test scenarios for a single image type.
-#   Tests will be started inside a container based on the packages container image
-#    (which contains the torcx manifest).
+#   Tests will be started inside the SDK container.
 #   This script is generic and will use a vendor-specific test runner from
 #    "ci-automation/vendor-testing/<image>.sh.
 #
@@ -19,10 +18,13 @@
 #
 #   1. SDK version and OS image version are recorded in sdk_container/.repo/manifests/version.txt
 #   2. Scripts repo version tag of OS image version to be built is available and checked out.
-#   3. Flatcar packages container is available via build cache server
-#       from "/containers/[VERSION]/flatcar-packages-[ARCH]-[FLATCAR_VERSION].tar.gz"
-#       or present locally. Container must contain binary packages and torcx artefacts.
-#   4. Vendor image(s) to run tests for are available on buildcache ( images/[ARCH]/[FLATCAR_VERSION]/ )
+#   2. SDK container is either
+#       - available via ghcr.io/flatcar-linux/flatcar-sdk-[ARCH]:[VERSION] (official SDK release)
+#       OR
+#       - available via build cache server "/containers/[VERSION]/flatcar-sdk-[ARCH]-[VERSION].tar.gz"
+#         (dev SDK)
+#   4. Vendor image and torcx manifest to run tests for are available on buildcache
+#         ( images/[ARCH]/[FLATCAR_VERSION]/ )
 #
 # INPUT:
 #
@@ -69,10 +71,14 @@ function test_run() {
     local docker_vernum
     docker_vernum="$(vernum_to_docker_image_version "${vernum}")"
 
-    local packages="flatcar-packages-${arch}"
-    local packages_image="${packages}:${docker_vernum}"
+    # Get SDK from either the registry or import from build cache
+    local sdk_version="${FLATCAR_SDK_VERSION}"
+    local sdk_name="flatcar-sdk-${arch}"
+    local docker_sdk_vernum="$(vernum_to_docker_image_version "${sdk_version}")"
 
-    docker_image_from_buildcache "${packages}" "${docker_vernum}"
+    docker_image_from_registry_or_buildcache "${sdk_name}" "${docker_sdk_vernum}"
+    local sdk_image="$(docker_image_fullname "${sdk_name}" "${docker_sdk_vernum}")"
+    echo "docker image rm -f '${sdk_image}'" >> ./ci-cleanup.sh
 
     local tests_dir="__TESTS__/${image}"
     mkdir -p "${tests_dir}"
@@ -80,6 +86,9 @@ function test_run() {
 
     local container_name="flatcar-tests-${arch}-${docker_vernum}-${image}"
 
+    # Make the torcx manifest available to test implementation
+    copy_from_buildcache "images/${arch}/${vernum}/torcx_manifest.json" "${tests_dir}"
+
     local retry=""
     local success=false
     for retry in $(seq "${retries}"); do
@@ -90,7 +99,7 @@ function test_run() {
         #  determine success based on test results (tapfile).
         set +e -o noglob
         ./run_sdk_container -x ./ci-cleanup.sh \
-            -n "${container_name}" -C "${packages_image}" -v "${vernum}" \
+            -n "${container_name}" -C "${sdk_image}" -v "${vernum}" \
             ci-automation/vendor-testing/"${image}".sh \
                 "${tests_dir}" \
                 "${arch}" \
@@ -100,7 +109,7 @@ function test_run() {
         set -e +o noglob
 
         ./run_sdk_container -x ./ci-cleanup.sh \
-            -n "${container_name}" -C "${packages_image}" -v "${vernum}" \
+            -n "${container_name}" -C "${sdk_image}" -v "${vernum}" \
             ci-automation/test_update_reruns.sh \
                 "${tests_dir}/${tapfile}" "${image}" "${retry}" \
                 "${tests_dir}/${failfile}"
diff --git a/ci-automation/vendor-testing/qemu.sh b/ci-automation/vendor-testing/qemu.sh
index b66daa2064..8c40b87159 100755
--- a/ci-automation/vendor-testing/qemu.sh
+++ b/ci-automation/vendor-testing/qemu.sh
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ sudo kola run \
     --qemu-bios=/usr/share/qemu/bios-256k.bin \
     --qemu-image="${QEMU_IMAGE_NAME}" \
     --tapfile="${tapfile}" \
-    --torcx-manifest="${CONTAINER_TORCX_ROOT}/${arch}-usr/latest/torcx_manifest.json" \
+    --torcx-manifest=torcx_manifest.json \
     $@
 
 set +o noglob