diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 59e3979fb..99853018f 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@
 
   <properties>
     <!-- Dependencies -->
-    <assertj.version>3.27.3</assertj.version>
+    <assertj.version>4.0.0-M1</assertj.version>
     <awaitility.version>4.3.0</awaitility.version>
     <fuzzywuzzy.version>1.4.0</fuzzywuzzy.version>
     <jspecify.version>1.0.0</jspecify.version>
diff --git a/scripts/close-nexus-repos.sh b/scripts/close-nexus-repos.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..a12ef6f36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/close-nexus-repos.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,316 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+###
+### Script that helps automate Nexus auto-staging promotion without using the
+### Nexus Maven Plugin which will break when we exclude the acceptance tests from
+### being deployed.
+###
+### This script will:
+###     1. Find all open repositories under the current user account on Nexus.
+###     2. Filter out any non-"open" repositories.
+###     3. Find the repository that corresponds to the given group ID, artifact ID, and version.
+###     4. Invoke the close operation on the repository
+###     5. Wait for the close operation to end (or time out)
+###     6. Check that the close operation succeeded (i.e. all Nexus rules for POM content, signing,
+###        artifact inclusion, documentation, etc are all green)
+###     7. Trigger a promotion (release to Maven Central) or drop (discard the release entirely).
+###
+### I have written this in such a way that I can hopefully reuse it elsewhere in the future.
+###
+### Note: this targets Sonatype Nexus Manager v2.x, not v3.x.
+###
+### Author: ascopes
+###
+set -o errexit
+set -o nounset
+[[ -n ${DEBUG+defined} ]] && set -o xtrace
+
+function usage() {
+  echo "USAGE: ${BASH_SOURCE[0]} [-h] -a <artifactId> -g <groupId> -v <version> -u <userName> -p <password> -s <server>"
+  echo "    -a    <artifactId>   The base artifact ID to use. This can be any artifact ID in the project"
+  echo "                         and is only used to determine the correct staging repository on Nexus"
+  echo "                         to deploy."
+  echo "    -d                   Drop rather than promote. Default is to promote."
+  echo "    -g    <groupId>      The group ID for the artifact ID to look for."
+  echo "    -v    <version>      The expected deployed version to look for."
+  echo "    -u    <userName>     The Nexus username to use."
+  echo "    -p    <password>     The Nexus password to use."
+  echo "    -s    <server>       The Nexus server to use."
+  echo "    -h                   Show this message and exit."
+  echo
+}
+
+artifact_id=""
+operation="promote"
+group_id=""
+version=""
+username=""
+password=""
+server=""
+
+while getopts "a:dg:hp:s:u:v:" opt; do
+  case "${opt}" in
+  a)
+    artifact_id="${OPTARG}"
+    ;;
+  d)
+    operation="drop"
+    ;;
+  g)
+    group_id="${OPTARG}"
+    ;;
+  h)
+    usage
+    exit 0
+    ;;
+  p)
+    password="${OPTARG}"
+    ;;
+  s)
+    # Remove https:// or http:// at the start, remove trailing forward-slash
+    # shellcheck disable=SC2001
+    server="$(sed 's#^http://##g; s#https://##g; s#/$##g' <<<"${OPTARG}")"
+    ;;
+  u)
+    username="${OPTARG}"
+    ;;
+  v)
+    version="${OPTARG}"
+    ;;
+  ? | *)
+    echo "ERROR: Unrecognised argument"
+    usage
+    exit 1
+    ;;
+  esac
+done
+
+for required_arg in artifact_id group_id password server username version; do
+  if [[ -z "${!required_arg}" ]]; then
+    echo "ERROR: Missing required argument: ${required_arg}" >&2
+    usage
+    exit 1
+  fi
+done
+
+for command in base64 curl jq; do
+  if ! command -v "${command}" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    echo "ERROR: ${command} is not on the \$PATH" >&2
+    exit 2
+  fi
+done
+
+function print() {
+  printf "%s" "${*}"
+}
+
+function try-jq() {
+  local file
+  file="$(mktemp)"
+  trap 'rm -f "${file}"' EXIT INT TERM
+
+  # pipe into file
+  cat > "${file}"
+
+  if ! jq 2>&1 > /dev/null < "${file}"; then
+    echo -e "\e[1;31mJQ failed to parse the HTTP response. Content was:\e[0m" >&2
+    cat "${file}" >&2
+    return 99
+  fi
+
+  jq "${@}" < "${file}"
+}
+
+function accept-json-header() {
+  print "Accept: application/json"
+}
+
+function authorization-header() {
+  print "Authorization: Basic $(print "${username}:${password}" | base64)"
+}
+
+function content-type-json-header() {
+  print "Content-Type: application/json"
+}
+
+function get-staging-repositories() {
+  local url="https://${server}/service/local/staging/profile_repositories"
+  echo -e "\e[1;33m[GET ${url}]\e[0m Retrieving repository IDs... (this may be slow) " >&2
+
+  if curl \
+    -X GET \
+    --fail \
+    --silent \
+    --header "$(accept-json-header)" \
+    --header "$(authorization-header)" \
+    "${url}" |
+    try-jq -e -r '.data[] | select(.type == "open" or .type == "closed") | .repositoryId'; then
+
+    echo -e "\e[1;32mRetrieved all repository IDs successfully\e[0m" >&2
+    return 0
+  else
+    echo -e "\e[1;31mFailed to retrieve the repository IDs\e[0m" >&2
+    return 100
+  fi
+}
+
+function is-artifact-in-repository() {
+  # Group ID has . replaced with /
+  local path="${group_id//./\/}/${artifact_id}/${version}"
+  local repository_id="${1?Pass the repository ID}"
+  local url="https://${server}/service/local/repositories/${repository_id}/content/${path}/"
+
+  echo -e "\e[1;33m[GET ${url}]\e[0m" >&2
+  if curl \
+    -X GET \
+    --fail \
+    --silent \
+    --header "$(accept-json-header)" \
+    --header "$(authorization-header)" \
+    "${url}" |
+    try-jq '.' > /dev/null; then
+
+    echo -e "\e[1;32mFound artifact in repository ${repository_id}, will close this repository\e[0m" >&2
+    return 0
+  else
+    echo -e "\e[1;31mArtifact is not present in repository ${repository_id}, skipping\e[0m" >&2
+    return 101
+  fi
+}
+
+function find-correct-repository-id() {
+  local repository_id
+  for repository_id in $(get-staging-repositories); do
+    if is-artifact-in-repository "${repository_id}"; then
+      echo "${repository_id}"
+      return 0
+    fi
+  done
+
+  echo -e "\e[1;31mERROR: Could not find the artifact in any open repositories\e[0m" >&2
+  return 102
+}
+
+function close-staging-repository() {
+  local repository_id="${1?Pass the repository ID}"
+  local url="https://${server}/service/local/staging/bulk/close"
+  local payload
+  
+  payload="$(
+    jq -cn '{ data: { description: $description, stagedRepositoryIds: [ $repository_id ] } }' \
+      --arg description "" \
+      --arg repository_id "${repository_id}"
+  )"
+
+  echo "Waiting a few seconds to mitigate eventual consistency on Nexus" >&2
+  sleep 10
+
+  echo -e "\e[1;33m[POST ${url} ${payload}]\e[0m Triggering the closure process" >&2
+
+  if curl \
+    -X POST \
+    --fail \
+    --silent \
+    --header "$(accept-json-header)" \
+    --header "$(content-type-json-header)" \
+    --header "$(authorization-header)" \
+    --data "${payload}" \
+    "${url}"; then
+
+    echo -e "\e[1;32mStarted closure successfully\e[0m" >&2
+    return 0
+  else
+    echo -e "\e[1;31mFailed to start closure\e[0m" >&2
+    return 103
+  fi
+}
+
+function wait-for-closure-to-end() {
+  local repository_id="${1?Pass the repository ID}"
+  local url="https://${server}/service/local/staging/repository/${repository_id}/activity"
+
+  echo -e "\e[1;33m[GET ${url}]\e[0m Waiting for the repository to complete the closure process" >&2
+  local attempt=1
+  while true; do
+    # In our case, the "close" activity will gain the attribute named "stopped" once the process
+    # is over (we then need to check if it passed or failed separately).
+    if curl \
+      -X GET \
+      --fail \
+      --silent \
+      --header "$(accept-json-header)" \
+      --header "$(authorization-header)" \
+      "${url}" |
+      try-jq -e '.[] | select(.name == "close") | .stopped != null' >/dev/null; then
+
+      echo -e "\e[1;32mClosure process completed after ${attempt} attempts (@ $(date))}\e[0m" >&2
+      return 0
+    else
+      echo -e "\e[1;32mStill waiting for closure to complete... - attempt $attempt (@ $(date))\e[0m" >&2
+      ((attempt++))
+    fi
+    sleep 5
+  done
+}
+
+function ensure-closure-succeeded() {
+  local repository_id="${1?Pass the repository ID}"
+  local url="https://${server}/service/local/staging/repository/${repository_id}/activity"
+
+  echo -e "\e[1;33m[GET ${url}]\e[0m Checking the closure process succeeded" >&2
+  # Closure has succeeded if the "close" activity has an event named "repositoryClosed" somewhere.
+
+  if curl \
+    -X GET \
+    --fail \
+    --silent \
+    --header "$(accept-json-header)" \
+    --header "$(authorization-header)" \
+    "${url}" |
+    try-jq -ce '.[] | select(.name == "close") | .events[] | select(.name == "repositoryClosed")'; then
+
+    echo -e "\e[1;32mRepository closed successfully\e[0m" >&2
+    return 0
+  else
+    echo -e "\e[1;31mERROR: Repository failed to close, you should check this on the Nexus dashboard\e[0m" >&2
+    return 105
+  fi
+}
+
+function trigger-drop-or-promote() {
+  local repository_id="${1?Pass the repository ID}"
+  local url="https://${server}/service/local/staging/bulk/${operation}"
+  local payload
+  payload="$(
+    jq -cn '{ data: { description: $description, stagedRepositoryIds: [ $repository_id ] } }' \
+      --arg description "" \
+      --arg repository_id "${repository_id}"
+  )"
+
+  echo -e "\e[1;33m[POST ${url} ${payload}]\e[0m ${operation^} the staging release" >&2
+
+  if curl \
+    -X POST \
+    --fail \
+    --silent \
+    --header "$(accept-json-header)" \
+    --header "$(content-type-json-header)" \
+    --header "$(authorization-header)" \
+    --data "${payload}" \
+    "${url}" |
+    try-jq -ce '.'; then
+
+    echo -e "\e[1;32m${operation^} succeeded\e[0m" >&2
+    return 0
+  else
+    echo -e "\e[1;31mERROR: ${operation^} failed\e[0m" >&2
+    return 106
+  fi
+}
+
+repository_id="$(find-correct-repository-id)"
+close-staging-repository "${repository_id}"
+wait-for-closure-to-end "${repository_id}"
+ensure-closure-succeeded "${repository_id}"
+trigger-drop-or-promote "${repository_id}" || :
+
+echo -e "\e[1;32mRelease ${operation} for repository ${repository_id} completed. Have a nice day :-)\e[0m" >&2