diff --git a/proof_ipa.go b/proof_ipa.go
index c244c550..c642321b 100644
--- a/proof_ipa.go
+++ b/proof_ipa.go
@@ -412,6 +412,16 @@ func PreStateTreeFromProof(proof *Proof, rootC *Point) (VerkleNode, error) { //
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("proof of absence stems are not sorted")
 	}
 
+	// We build a cache of stems that have a presence extension status.
+	stemsWithExtPresent := map[string]struct{}{}
+	i := 0
+	for _, es := range proof.ExtStatus {
+		if es&3 == extStatusPresent {
+			stemsWithExtPresent[string(stems[i])] = struct{}{}
+		}
+		i++
+	}
+
 	// assign one or more stem to each stem info
 	for _, es := range proof.ExtStatus {
 		depth := es >> 3
@@ -432,8 +442,14 @@ func PreStateTreeFromProof(proof *Proof, rootC *Point) (VerkleNode, error) { //
 				}
 			}
 		case extStatusAbsentOther:
-			si.stem = poas[0]
-			poas = poas[1:]
+			// For this absent path, we must first check if this path contains a proof of presence.
+			// If that is the case, we don't have to do anything since the corresponding leaf will be
+			// constructed by that extension status (already processed or to be processed).
+			// In other case, we should get the stem from the list of proof of absence stems.
+			if _, ok := stemsWithExtPresent[string(path)]; !ok {
+				si.stem = poas[0]
+				poas = poas[1:]
+			}
 			// All keys that are part of a proof of absence, must contain empty
 			// prestate values. If that isn't the case, the proof is invalid.
 			for i, k := range proof.Keys { // TODO: DoS risk, use map or binary search.
@@ -444,28 +460,13 @@ func PreStateTreeFromProof(proof *Proof, rootC *Point) (VerkleNode, error) { //
 				}
 			}
 		default:
-			// the first stem could be missing (e.g. the second stem in the
-			// group is the one that is present. Compare each key to the first
-			// stem, along the length of the path only.
-			stemPath := stems[stemIndex][:len(path)]
 			si.values = map[byte][]byte{}
+			si.stem = stems[stemIndex]
 			for i, k := range proof.Keys { // TODO: DoS risk, use map or binary search.
-				if bytes.Equal(k[:len(path)], stemPath) && proof.PreValues[i] != nil {
+				if bytes.Equal(k[:31], si.stem) {
 					si.values[k[31]] = proof.PreValues[i]
 					si.has_c1 = si.has_c1 || (k[31] < 128)
 					si.has_c2 = si.has_c2 || (k[31] >= 128)
-					// This key has values, its stem is the one that
-					// is present.
-					if si.stem == nil {
-						si.stem = k[:31]
-						continue
-					}
-					// Any other key with values must have the same
-					// same previously detected stem. If that isn't the case,
-					// the proof is invalid.
-					if !bytes.Equal(si.stem, k[:31]) {
-						return nil, fmt.Errorf("multiple keys with values found for stem %x", k[:31])
-					}
 				}
 			}
 			// For a proof of presence, we must always have detected a stem.
diff --git a/tree.go b/tree.go
index ece16366..7f75e74e 100644
--- a/tree.go
+++ b/tree.go
@@ -1488,10 +1488,11 @@ func (n *LeafNode) GetProofItems(keys keylist, _ NodeResolverFn) (*ProofElements
 		// corner case (see previous corner case): if a proof-of-absence
 		// stem was found, and it now turns out the same stem is used as
 		// a proof of presence, clear the proof-of-absence list to avoid
-		// redundancy.
+		// redundancy. Note that we don't delete the extension statuses
+		// since that is needed to figure out which is the correct
+		// stem for this path.
 		if len(poass) > 0 {
 			poass = nil
-			esses = nil
 		}
 
 		var (
diff --git a/tree_test.go b/tree_test.go
index 42f74b93..ce49c6de 100644
--- a/tree_test.go
+++ b/tree_test.go
@@ -1050,8 +1050,8 @@ func TestGetProofItemsNoPoaIfStemPresent(t *testing.T) {
 	if len(poas) != 0 {
 		t.Fatalf("returned %d poas instead of 0", len(poas))
 	}
-	if len(esses) != 1 {
-		t.Fatalf("returned %d extension statuses instead of the expected 1", len(esses))
+	if len(esses) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("returned %d extension statuses instead of the expected 2", len(esses))
 	}
 }