diff --git a/podman.mk b/podman.mk
index 55cff91..2ab4469 100644
--- a/podman.mk
+++ b/podman.mk
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 # Parse version from latest git semver tag
-BRANCH := $(shell git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2>/dev/null)
+GIT_BRANCH ?= $(shell git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2>/dev/null)
 GIT_TAG := $(shell git describe --tags --match v*.*.* 2>/dev/null || git rev-parse --short HEAD 2>/dev/null)
-TAG := $(GIT_TAG)
 
 # append branch name to tag if NOT main nor master
-ifeq (,$(filter main master, $(BRANCH)))
-	TAG = $(GIT_TAG)-$(BRANCH)
+TAG := $(GIT_TAG)
+ifeq (,$(filter main master, $(GIT_BRANCH)))
+	ifneq ($(GIT_TAG), $(GIT_BRANCH))
+		TAG = $(GIT_TAG)-$(GIT_BRANCH)
+	endif
 endif
 
 # optionally set by the caller
@@ -68,13 +70,13 @@ rm-remote-untagged: ## delete all remote untagged images
 		[ -n "$$IMAGE_IDS" ] && aws ecr-public batch-delete-image --repository-name $(IMAGE) --region $(REGION) --image-ids $$IMAGE_IDS || echo "No image to remove"
 
 rm-image:
-	test -z "$$(docker image ls -q $(IMAGE):$(TAG)-$(_ARCH))" || podman image rm -f $(IMAGE):$(TAG)-$(_ARCH) > /dev/null
-	test -z "$$(docker image ls -q $(IMAGE):$(TAG)-$(_ARCH))" || echo "Error: Removing image failed"
+	test -z "$$(podman image ls -q $(IMAGE):$(TAG)-$(_ARCH))" || podman image rm -f $(IMAGE):$(TAG)-$(_ARCH) > /dev/null
+	test -z "$$(podman image ls -q $(IMAGE):$(TAG)-$(_ARCH))" || echo "Error: Removing image failed"
 
 # Ensure we run the tests by removing any previous runs
 rm-test-image:
-	test -z "$$(docker image ls -q $(IMAGE):$(TAG)-$(_ARCH)-test)" || podman image rm -f $(IMAGE):$(TAG)-$(_ARCH)-test > /dev/null
-	test -z "$$(docker image ls -q $(IMAGE):$(TAG)-$(_ARCH)-test)" || echo "Error: Removing test image failed"
+	test -z "$$(podman image ls -q $(IMAGE):$(TAG)-$(_ARCH)-test)" || podman image rm -f $(IMAGE):$(TAG)-$(_ARCH)-test > /dev/null
+	test -z "$$(podman image ls -q $(IMAGE):$(TAG)-$(_ARCH)-test)" || echo "Error: Removing test image failed"
 
 ci-pull-upstream: ## pull latest shared .ci subtree
 	git stash && git subtree pull --prefix .ci ssh://git@git.zero-downtime.net/ZeroDownTime/ci-tools-lib.git master --squash && git stash pop