diff --git a/xtask/src/publish.rs b/xtask/src/publish.rs
index 7faae9b20c40..d57f20415355 100644
--- a/xtask/src/publish.rs
+++ b/xtask/src/publish.rs
@@ -7,7 +7,14 @@ use xshell::{cmd, Shell};
 
 impl flags::PublishReleaseNotes {
     pub(crate) fn run(self, sh: &Shell) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
-        let asciidoc = sh.read_file(&self.changelog)?;
+        let mut asciidoc = sh.read_file(&self.changelog)?;
+        // Remove '#' in front of changelog number; GitHub misinterprets it as issue reference
+        let changelog_header_prefix = "= Changelog ";
+        let header_hash_sign_index =
+            asciidoc.find(changelog_header_prefix).expect("should contain changelog header")
+                + changelog_header_prefix.len();
+        asciidoc.remove(header_hash_sign_index);
+
         let mut markdown = notes::convert_asciidoc_to_markdown(std::io::Cursor::new(&asciidoc))?;
         let file_name = check_file_name(self.changelog)?;
         let tag_name = &file_name[0..10];