diff --git a/dist/index.js b/dist/index.js
index 28a67b4..6bfac2d 100644
--- a/dist/index.js
+++ b/dist/index.js
@@ -5749,14 +5749,15 @@ function createBranch(getOctokit, context, branch, sha) {
         const toolkit = getOctokit(githubToken());
         // Sometimes branch might come in with refs/heads already
         branch = branch.replace('refs/heads/', '');
+        const ref = `refs/heads/${branch}`;
         // throws HttpError if branch already exists.
         try {
             yield toolkit.rest.repos.getBranch(Object.assign(Object.assign({}, context.repo), { branch }));
         }
         catch (error) {
             if (error.name === 'HttpError' && error.status === 404) {
-                const resp = yield toolkit.rest.git.createRef(Object.assign({ ref: `refs/heads/${branch}`, sha: sha || context.sha }, context.repo));
-                return ((_a = resp === null || resp === void 0 ? void 0 : resp.data) === null || _a === void 0 ? void 0 : _a.ref) === branch;
+                const resp = yield toolkit.rest.git.createRef(Object.assign({ ref, sha: sha || context.sha }, context.repo));
+                return ((_a = resp === null || resp === void 0 ? void 0 : resp.data) === null || _a === void 0 ? void 0 : _a.ref) === ref;
             }
             else {
                 throw Error(error);
diff --git a/src/create-branch.ts b/src/create-branch.ts
index 1fb42b9..cf65981 100644
--- a/src/create-branch.ts
+++ b/src/create-branch.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ export async function createBranch(getOctokit: any, context: Context, branch: st
 	const toolkit = getOctokit(githubToken());
 	// Sometimes branch might come in with refs/heads already
 	branch = branch.replace('refs/heads/', '');
+	const ref = `refs/heads/${branch}`;
 
 	// throws HttpError if branch already exists.
 	try {
@@ -14,12 +15,12 @@ export async function createBranch(getOctokit: any, context: Context, branch: st
 	} catch (error: any) {
 		if (error.name === 'HttpError' && error.status === 404) {
 			const resp = await toolkit.rest.git.createRef({
-				ref: `refs/heads/${branch}`,
+				ref,
 				sha: sha || context.sha,
 				...context.repo,
 			});
 
-			return resp?.data?.ref === branch;
+			return resp?.data?.ref === ref;
 		} else {
 			throw Error(error);
 		}