diff --git a/lib/github/commands/rest2html b/lib/github/commands/rest2html
index c6fc663e..8cc1f161 100755
--- a/lib/github/commands/rest2html
+++ b/lib/github/commands/rest2html
@@ -258,6 +258,12 @@ class GitHubHTMLTranslator(HTMLTranslator):
             self.body.append(self.starttag(node, 'img', **atts))
         HTMLTranslator.depart_image(self, node)
 
+        # treat images held in a reference on the base document as inlined
+        # images; this is to help avoid rendering a reference's decorative
+        # line for the spacing after an image
+        if (isinstance(node.parent, nodes.reference)
+            and isinstance(node.parent.parent, nodes.document)):
+            self.body.append(self.body.pop().rstrip('\n'))
 
 def kbd(name, rawtext, text, lineno, inliner, options={}, content=[]):
     return [nodes.raw('', '<kbd>%s</kbd>' % text, format='html')], []
diff --git a/test/markup_test.rb b/test/markup_test.rb
index baa1dec2..6ab95662 100644
--- a/test/markup_test.rb
+++ b/test/markup_test.rb
@@ -137,4 +137,16 @@ def test_commonmarker_options
     assert_equal "&lt;style>.red{color: red;}&lt;/style>\n", GitHub::Markup.render_s(GitHub::Markups::MARKUP_MARKDOWN, "<style>.red{color: red;}</style>", options: {commonmarker_opts: [:UNSAFE]})
     assert_equal "<style>.red{color: red;}</style>\n", GitHub::Markup.render_s(GitHub::Markups::MARKUP_MARKDOWN, "<style>.red{color: red;}</style>", options: {commonmarker_opts: [:UNSAFE], commonmarker_exts: [:autolink, :table, :strikethrough]})
   end
+
+  def test_blanks_rst_inlined_reference
+    expected = '<img src="https://example.com/img.svg"></a>'
+
+    actual = GitHub::Markup.render_s(GitHub::Markups::MARKUP_RST, <<~RST
+    .. image:: https://example.com/img.svg
+        :target: https://example.com/
+    RST
+    )
+
+    assert_equal expected, actual.strip.lines.last
+  end
 end