diff --git a/includes/ApiQueryExtracts.php b/includes/ApiQueryExtracts.php
index 1d23980..3b070a7 100644
--- a/includes/ApiQueryExtracts.php
+++ b/includes/ApiQueryExtracts.php
@@ -231,9 +231,10 @@ class ApiQueryExtracts extends ApiQueryBase {
 	 */
 	private function getFirstSection( $text, $plainText ) {
 		if ( $plainText ) {
-			$regexp = '/^(.*?)(?=' . ExtractFormatter::SECTION_MARKER_START . ')/s';
+			$regexp = '/^.*?(?=' . ExtractFormatter::SECTION_MARKER_START .
+				'(?!.' . ExtractFormatter::SECTION_MARKER_END . '<h2 id="mw-toc-heading"))/s';
 		} else {
-			$regexp = '/^(.*?)(?=<h[1-6]\b)/s';
+			$regexp = '/^.*?(?=<h[1-6]\b(?! id="mw-toc-heading"))/s';
 		}
 		if ( preg_match( $regexp, $text, $matches ) ) {
 			$text = $matches[0];
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/ApiQueryExtractsTest.php b/tests/phpunit/ApiQueryExtractsTest.php
index 7e0ac37..a71f9e7 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/ApiQueryExtractsTest.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/ApiQueryExtractsTest.php
@@ -133,6 +133,16 @@ class ApiQueryExtractsTest extends \MediaWikiTestCase {
 				false,
 				'Example <h11>...',
 			],
+			'__TOC__ before intro (HTML)' => [
+				'<h2 id="mw-toc-heading">Contents</h2>Intro<h2>Actual heading</h2>...',
+				false,
+				'<h2 id="mw-toc-heading">Contents</h2>Intro',
+			],
+			'__TOC__ before intro (plaintext)' => [
+				"\1\2_\2\1<h2 id=\"mw-toc-heading\">Contents</h2>Intro\1\2_\2\1<h2>Actual heading</h2>...",
+				true,
+				"\1\2_\2\1<h2 id=\"mw-toc-heading\">Contents</h2>Intro",
+			],
 		];
 	}