diff --git a/src/runtime/internal/renderer.ts b/src/runtime/internal/renderer.ts
index 6c2e492b95..356eaffbe1 100644
--- a/src/runtime/internal/renderer.ts
+++ b/src/runtime/internal/renderer.ts
@@ -34,12 +34,14 @@ export function defineRenderHandler(render: RenderHandler) {
 
       ctx.response = await ctx.render(event);
 
-      const _currentStatus = getResponseStatus(event);
-      setResponseStatus(event, _currentStatus === 200 ? 500 : _currentStatus);
-      return send(
-        event,
-        "No response returned from render handler: " + event.path
-      );
+      if (!ctx.response) {
+        const _currentStatus = getResponseStatus(event);
+        setResponseStatus(event, _currentStatus === 200 ? 500 : _currentStatus);
+        return send(
+          event,
+          "No response returned from render handler: " + event.path
+        );
+      }
     }
 
     // Allow  modifying response