diff --git a/src/ReferenceStack.php b/src/ReferenceStack.php
index b1a333521..0106dca60 100644
--- a/src/ReferenceStack.php
+++ b/src/ReferenceStack.php
@@ -343,8 +343,7 @@ class ReferenceStack {
 			case 'new':
 				// Rollback the addition of new elements to the stack
 				unset( $this->refs[$group][$lookup] );
-				if ( $this->refs[$group] === [] ) {
-					// TODO: Unsetting is unecessary.
+				if ( !$this->refs[$group] ) {
 					$this->popGroup( $group );
 				}
 				// TODO: else, don't we need to decrement groupRefSequence?
diff --git a/tests/parser/citeParserTests.txt b/tests/parser/citeParserTests.txt
index f454b78ed..bba75a68b 100644
--- a/tests/parser/citeParserTests.txt
+++ b/tests/parser/citeParserTests.txt
@@ -2037,6 +2037,27 @@ T242437 - Blank ref name in #tag regression
 </p>
 !! end
 
+!! test
+Numbers in the default group need to start with 1, independent from other groups
+!! wikitext
+<ref name="a" group="g" />
+{{#tag:references|
+<ref name="a">a</ref>
+|group=g}}
+<ref name="c">c</ref>
+!! html
+<p><sup id="cite_ref-a_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-a-1">&#91;g 1&#93;</a></sup>
+</p>
+<div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references">
+<li id="cite_note-a-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-a_1-0">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">a</span>
+</li>
+</ol></div>
+<sup id="cite_ref-c_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-c-3">&#91;1&#93;</a></sup><div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references">
+<li id="cite_note-c-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-c_3-0">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">c</span>
+</li>
+</ol></div>
+!! end
+
 !! test
 Serialize reference tags by themselves on a line
 !! options