diff --git a/packages/gatsby/src/redux/__tests__/run-fast-filters.js b/packages/gatsby/src/redux/__tests__/run-fast-filters.js
index 1581944bbab71..7cf0c2bbb5650 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby/src/redux/__tests__/run-fast-filters.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby/src/redux/__tests__/run-fast-filters.js
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ describe(`fast filter tests`, () => {
 
       // `id-1` node is not of queried type, so results should be empty
       expect(resultSingular).toEqual([])
-      expect(resultMany).toEqual(null)
+      expect(resultMany).toEqual([])
     })
 
     it(`non-eq operator`, async () => {
@@ -353,7 +353,7 @@ describe(`fast filter tests`, () => {
         filtersCache: new Map(),
       })
 
-      expect(resultMany).toBe(null)
+      expect(resultMany).toEqual([])
     })
 
     it(`elemMatch on array of objects`, async () => {
diff --git a/packages/gatsby/src/redux/run-fast-filters.ts b/packages/gatsby/src/redux/run-fast-filters.ts
index f51df9c308d97..3676fed2c1a59 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby/src/redux/run-fast-filters.ts
+++ b/packages/gatsby/src/redux/run-fast-filters.ts
@@ -417,10 +417,7 @@ function convertAndApplyFastFilters(
     stats.totalSiftHits++
   }
 
-  if (firstOnly) {
-    return []
-  }
-  return null
+  return []
 }
 
 function filterToStats(
diff --git a/packages/gatsby/src/schema/__tests__/run-query.js b/packages/gatsby/src/schema/__tests__/run-query.js
index c6ca11ee73b43..49b79f3d3e676 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby/src/schema/__tests__/run-query.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby/src/schema/__tests__/run-query.js
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@ describe(`Filter fields`, () => {
       })
 
       // Note: no coercion, so [8]=='8' is true but the comparison is strict
-      expect(result).toEqual(null)
+      expect(result).toEqual([])
     })
   })
 
@@ -769,7 +769,7 @@ describe(`Filter fields`, () => {
 
       // Nothing is lt null so zero nodes should match
       // (Note: this is different from `lte`, which does return nulls here!)
-      expect(result).toEqual(null)
+      expect(result).toEqual([])
       expect(
         allNodes.filter(node => node.nil === needle).length
       ).toBeGreaterThan(0) // They should _exist_...
@@ -972,7 +972,7 @@ describe(`Filter fields`, () => {
       // Nothing is gt null so zero nodes should match
       // (Note: this is different from `gte`, which does return nulls here!)
       expect(result?.length ?? 0).toEqual(new Set(result ?? []).size) // result should contain unique elements
-      expect(result).toEqual(null)
+      expect(result).toEqual([])
       expect(
         allNodes.filter(node => node.nil === needle).length
       ).toBeGreaterThan(0) // They should _exist_...
@@ -1188,7 +1188,7 @@ describe(`Filter fields`, () => {
         name: { regex: `/"/` },
       })
 
-      expect(result).toEqual(null)
+      expect(result).toEqual([])
       expect(allNodes.filter(node => node.name === `"`).length).toEqual(0)
     })
   })
@@ -1506,7 +1506,7 @@ describe(`Filter fields`, () => {
         },
       })
 
-      expect(result).toEqual(null)
+      expect(result).toEqual([])
     })
 
     it(`handles the elemMatch operator for array of objects (1)`, async () => {