diff --git a/platform/vcs-log/graph/src/com/intellij/vcs/log/graph/impl/permanent/GraphLayoutBuilder.kt b/platform/vcs-log/graph/src/com/intellij/vcs/log/graph/impl/permanent/GraphLayoutBuilder.kt
index 4bcb2e0074a6..06135ea9d1d4 100644
--- a/platform/vcs-log/graph/src/com/intellij/vcs/log/graph/impl/permanent/GraphLayoutBuilder.kt
+++ b/platform/vcs-log/graph/src/com/intellij/vcs/log/graph/impl/permanent/GraphLayoutBuilder.kt
@@ -55,10 +55,14 @@ object GraphLayoutBuilder {
 
   private fun build(graph: LinearGraph, sortedHeads: IntList): GraphLayoutImpl {
     val layoutIndex = IntArray(graph.nodesCount())
+    val importantHeads = IntArrayList()
 
     var currentLayoutIndex = 1
     for (i in sortedHeads.indices) {
       val head = sortedHeads.getInt(i)
+      if (layoutIndex[head] != 0) continue
+
+      importantHeads.add(head)
 
       walk(head) { currentNode: Int ->
         val firstVisit = layoutIndex[currentNode] == 0
@@ -73,6 +77,6 @@ object GraphLayoutBuilder {
       }
     }
 
-    return GraphLayoutImpl(layoutIndex, sortedHeads)
+    return GraphLayoutImpl(layoutIndex, importantHeads)
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/platform/vcs-log/graph/test/com/intellij/vcs/log/graph/impl/permanent/GraphLayoutBuilderHeadOrderTest.kt b/platform/vcs-log/graph/test/com/intellij/vcs/log/graph/impl/permanent/GraphLayoutBuilderHeadOrderTest.kt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..acaec51c6603
--- /dev/null
+++ b/platform/vcs-log/graph/test/com/intellij/vcs/log/graph/impl/permanent/GraphLayoutBuilderHeadOrderTest.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+// Copyright 2000-2024 JetBrains s.r.o. and contributors. Use of this source code is governed by the Apache 2.0 license.
+package com.intellij.vcs.log.graph.impl.permanent
+
+import com.intellij.vcs.log.graph.api.LinearGraph
+import com.intellij.vcs.log.graph.graph
+import it.unimi.dsi.fastutil.ints.IntComparator
+import org.junit.Assert.assertEquals
+import org.junit.Test
+
+class GraphLayoutBuilderHeadOrderTest {
+  @Test
+  fun linearGraph() {
+    val graph = graph {
+      0(1)
+      1(2)
+      2(3)
+      3()
+    }
+    graph.assertHeadsForCommits(branchHeads = setOf(0, 2), headComparator = order(0, 2), expectedHeads = listOf(0, 0, 0, 0))
+    graph.assertHeadsForCommits(branchHeads = setOf(0, 2), headComparator = order(2, 0), expectedHeads = listOf(0, 0, 2, 2))
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  fun branchingGraph() {
+    val graph = graph {
+      0(2)
+      1(3)
+      2(3)
+      3(4)
+      4()
+    }
+    graph.assertHeadsForCommits(branchHeads = setOf(0, 2), headComparator = order(0, 1, 2), expectedHeads = listOf(0, 1, 0, 0, 0))
+    graph.assertHeadsForCommits(branchHeads = setOf(0, 2), headComparator = order(0, 2, 1), expectedHeads = listOf(0, 1, 0, 0, 0))
+    graph.assertHeadsForCommits(branchHeads = setOf(0, 2), headComparator = order(1, 0, 2), expectedHeads = listOf(0, 1, 0, 1, 1))
+    graph.assertHeadsForCommits(branchHeads = setOf(0, 2), headComparator = order(1, 2, 0), expectedHeads = listOf(0, 1, 2, 1, 1))
+    graph.assertHeadsForCommits(branchHeads = setOf(0, 2), headComparator = order(2, 0, 1), expectedHeads = listOf(0, 1, 2, 2, 2))
+    graph.assertHeadsForCommits(branchHeads = setOf(0, 2), headComparator = order(2, 1, 0), expectedHeads = listOf(0, 1, 2, 2, 2))
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Assert that [com.intellij.vcs.log.graph.api.GraphLayout] built for this graph has correct head commits for each commit in the graph.
+   */
+  private fun LinearGraph.assertHeadsForCommits(branchHeads: Set<Int>, headComparator: IntComparator, expectedHeads: List<Int>) {
+    val graphLayout = GraphLayoutBuilder.build(this, branchHeads, headComparator)
+    assertEquals(expectedHeads, getHeadNodeIndices(this, graphLayout))
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * For each commit in the graph, computes corresponding head node.
+   */
+  private fun getHeadNodeIndices(graph: LinearGraph, graphLayout: GraphLayoutImpl): List<Int> {
+    return List(graph.nodesCount()) { graphLayout.getOneOfHeadNodeIndex(it) }
+  }
+
+  private fun order(vararg list: Int): IntComparator {
+    return IntComparator { i, j -> list.indexOf(i) - list.indexOf(j) }
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file