diff --git a/gst/rtsp/gstrtspsrc.c b/gst/rtsp/gstrtspsrc.c
index 03398fcade..f8fea023b8 100644
--- a/gst/rtsp/gstrtspsrc.c
+++ b/gst/rtsp/gstrtspsrc.c
@@ -6144,8 +6144,23 @@ gst_rtspsrc_play (GstRTSPSrc * src, GstSegment * segment, gboolean async)
    * only in async case, since receive elements may not have been affected
    * by overall state change (e.g. not around yet),
    * do not mess with state in sync case (e.g. seeking) */
-  if (async)
-    gst_element_set_state (GST_ELEMENT_CAST (src), GST_STATE_PLAYING);
+  if (async) {
+    /* state change might be happening in the application thread. A
+     * specific case is when chaging state to NULL where we will wait
+     * for this task to finish (gst_rtspsrc_stop). However this task
+     * will try to change the state to PLAYING causing a deadlock. */
+
+    /* make sure we are not in the middle of a state change. The
+     * state lock is a recursive lock so it's safe to lock twice from
+     * the same thread */
+    if (GST_STATE_TRYLOCK (src)) {
+      gst_element_set_state (GST_ELEMENT_CAST (src), GST_STATE_PLAYING);
+      GST_STATE_UNLOCK (src);
+    } else {
+      res = GST_RTSP_ERROR;
+      goto changing_state;
+    }
+  }
 
   /* construct a control url */
   if (src->control)
@@ -6308,6 +6323,11 @@ was_playing:
     GST_DEBUG_OBJECT (src, "we were already PLAYING");
     goto done;
   }
+changing_state:
+  {
+    GST_DEBUG_OBJECT (src, "failed going to PLAYING, already changing state");
+    goto done;
+  }
 create_request_failed:
   {
     gchar *str = gst_rtsp_strresult (res);