diff --git a/java/com/google/gerrit/server/notedb/ChangeNotes.java b/java/com/google/gerrit/server/notedb/ChangeNotes.java
index 8eb5c5c..047aa0c 100644
--- a/java/com/google/gerrit/server/notedb/ChangeNotes.java
+++ b/java/com/google/gerrit/server/notedb/ChangeNotes.java
@@ -66,12 +66,14 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Objects;
 import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.function.Predicate;
 import java.util.stream.Stream;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.errors.ConfigInvalidException;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.errors.RepositoryNotFoundException;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectId;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Ref;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Repository;
@@ -198,13 +200,14 @@
     }
 
     public List<ChangeNotes> create(
+        Repository repo,
         Project.NameKey project,
         Collection<Change.Id> changeIds,
         Predicate<ChangeNotes> predicate) {
       List<ChangeNotes> notes = new ArrayList<>();
       for (Change.Id cid : changeIds) {
         try {
-          ChangeNotes cn = create(project, cid);
+          ChangeNotes cn = create(repo, project, cid);
           if (cn.getChange() != null && predicate.test(cn)) {
             notes.add(cn);
           }
@@ -217,6 +220,28 @@
       return notes;
     }
 
+    /* TODO: This is now unused in the Gerrit code-base, however it is kept in the code
+    /* because it is a public method in a stable branch.
+     * It can be removed in master branch where we have more flexibility to change the API
+     * interface.
+     */
+    public List<ChangeNotes> create(
+        Project.NameKey project,
+        Collection<Change.Id> changeIds,
+        Predicate<ChangeNotes> predicate) {
+      try (Repository repo = args.repoManager.openRepository(project)) {
+        return create(repo, project, changeIds, predicate);
+      } catch (RepositoryNotFoundException e) {
+        // The repository does not exist, hence it does not contain
+        // any change.
+      } catch (IOException e) {
+        logger.atWarning().withCause(e).log(
+            "Unable to open project=%s when trying to retrieve changeId=%s from NoteDb",
+            project, changeIds);
+      }
+      return Collections.emptyList();
+    }
+
     public ListMultimap<Project.NameKey, ChangeNotes> create(Predicate<ChangeNotes> predicate)
         throws IOException {
       ListMultimap<Project.NameKey, ChangeNotes> m =
diff --git a/java/com/google/gerrit/server/query/change/InternalChangeQuery.java b/java/com/google/gerrit/server/query/change/InternalChangeQuery.java
index 6605c23..1012f4a 100644
--- a/java/com/google/gerrit/server/query/change/InternalChangeQuery.java
+++ b/java/com/google/gerrit/server/query/change/InternalChangeQuery.java
@@ -193,6 +193,7 @@
 
     List<ChangeNotes> notes =
         notesFactory.create(
+            repo,
             branch.project(),
             changeIds,
             cn -> {