diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/MlDistributedFailureIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/MlDistributedFailureIT.java
index 3ebd3747d07..fbe78556449 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/MlDistributedFailureIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/MlDistributedFailureIT.java
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.integration;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.action.ActionFuture;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.support.IndicesOptions;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterState;
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentHelper;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParser;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentType;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilders;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.query.TermsQueryBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.persistent.PersistentTaskResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.persistent.PersistentTasksClusterService;
 import org.elasticsearch.persistent.PersistentTasksCustomMetadata;
@@ -47,6 +49,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ml.datafeed.DatafeedState;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ml.job.config.Job;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ml.job.config.JobState;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ml.job.process.autodetect.state.DataCounts;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ml.notifications.NotificationsIndex;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.MachineLearning;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.job.process.autodetect.BlackHoleAutodetectProcess;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.support.BaseMlIntegTestCase;
@@ -58,6 +61,9 @@ import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.persistent.PersistentTasksClusterService.needsReassignment;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.arrayWithSize;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.notNullValue;
 
 public class MlDistributedFailureIT extends BaseMlIntegTestCase {
 
@@ -176,9 +182,22 @@ public class MlDistributedFailureIT extends BaseMlIntegTestCase {
 
         // Since 7.5 we can also stop an unassigned job either normally or by force
         CloseJobAction.Request closeJobRequest = new CloseJobAction.Request(jobId);
-        closeJobRequest.setForce(randomBoolean());
+        boolean closeWithForce = randomBoolean();
+        closeJobRequest.setForce(closeWithForce);
         CloseJobAction.Response closeJobResponse = client().execute(CloseJobAction.INSTANCE, closeJobRequest).actionGet();
         assertTrue(closeJobResponse.isClosed());
+
+        // We should have an audit message indicating that the job was closed
+        String expectedAuditMessage = closeWithForce ? "Job is closing (forced)" : "Job is closing";
+        SearchRequest searchRequest = new SearchRequest(NotificationsIndex.NOTIFICATIONS_INDEX);
+        searchRequest.source().query(new TermsQueryBuilder("message.raw", expectedAuditMessage));
+        assertBusy(() -> {
+            assertTrue(indexExists(NotificationsIndex.NOTIFICATIONS_INDEX));
+            SearchResponse searchResponse = client().search(searchRequest).actionGet();
+            assertThat(searchResponse.getHits(), notNullValue());
+            assertThat(searchResponse.getHits().getHits(), arrayWithSize(1));
+            assertThat(searchResponse.getHits().getHits()[0].getSourceAsMap().get("job_id"), is(jobId));
+        });
     }
 
     public void testCloseUnassignedFailedJobAndStopUnassignedStoppingDatafeed() throws Exception {