diff --git a/packages/playwright-test/src/common/configLoader.ts b/packages/playwright-test/src/common/configLoader.ts
index 581b263b2f..1a7130e1a9 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-test/src/common/configLoader.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-test/src/common/configLoader.ts
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ export class ConfigLoader {
     this._fullConfig.shard = takeFirst(config.shard, baseFullConfig.shard);
     this._fullConfig._internal.ignoreSnapshots = takeFirst(config.ignoreSnapshots, baseFullConfig._internal.ignoreSnapshots);
     this._fullConfig.updateSnapshots = takeFirst(config.updateSnapshots, baseFullConfig.updateSnapshots);
-    this._fullConfig._internal.pluginRegistrations = (config as any)._plugins || [];
+    this._fullConfig._internal.plugins = ((config as any)._plugins || []).map((p: any) => ({ factory: p }));
 
     const workers = takeFirst(config.workers, '50%');
     if (typeof workers === 'string') {
@@ -449,7 +449,7 @@ export const baseFullConfig: FullConfigInternal = {
     storeDir: '',
     maxConcurrentTestGroups: 0,
     ignoreSnapshots: false,
-    pluginRegistrations: [],
+    plugins: [],
     testTitleMatcher: () => true,
     testFileFilters: [],
     listOnly: false,
diff --git a/packages/playwright-test/src/common/types.ts b/packages/playwright-test/src/common/types.ts
index 0c2b61b14a..e5453b9533 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-test/src/common/types.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-test/src/common/types.ts
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ type ConfigInternal = {
   maxConcurrentTestGroups: number;
   ignoreSnapshots: boolean;
   webServers: Exclude<FullConfigPublic['webServer'], null>[];
-  pluginRegistrations: TestRunnerPluginRegistration[];
+  plugins: TestRunnerPluginRegistration[];
   listOnly: boolean;
   testFileFilters: TestFileFilter[];
   testTitleMatcher: Matcher;
diff --git a/packages/playwright-test/src/plugins/index.ts b/packages/playwright-test/src/plugins/index.ts
index 32d86af9b7..4124f0a556 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-test/src/plugins/index.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-test/src/plugins/index.ts
@@ -24,7 +24,10 @@ export interface TestRunnerPlugin {
   teardown?(): Promise<void>;
 }
 
-export type TestRunnerPluginRegistration = TestRunnerPlugin | (() => TestRunnerPlugin | Promise<TestRunnerPlugin>);
+export type TestRunnerPluginRegistration = {
+  factory: TestRunnerPlugin | (() => TestRunnerPlugin | Promise<TestRunnerPlugin>);
+  instance?: TestRunnerPlugin;
+};
 
 export { webServer } from './webServerPlugin';
 export { gitCommitInfo } from './gitCommitInfoPlugin';
diff --git a/packages/playwright-test/src/runner/runner.ts b/packages/playwright-test/src/runner/runner.ts
index 1850cccd7d..31664f9455 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-test/src/runner/runner.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-test/src/runner/runner.ts
@@ -53,9 +53,9 @@ export class Runner {
     const deadline = config.globalTimeout ? monotonicTime() + config.globalTimeout : 0;
 
     // Legacy webServer support.
-    config._internal.pluginRegistrations.push(...webServerPluginsForConfig(config));
+    webServerPluginsForConfig(config).forEach(p => config._internal.plugins.push({ factory: p }));
     // Docker support.
-    config._internal.pluginRegistrations.push(dockerPlugin);
+    config._internal.plugins.push({ factory: dockerPlugin });
 
     const reporter = await createReporter(config, listOnly);
     const taskRunner = listOnly ? createTaskRunnerForList(config, reporter)
@@ -64,7 +64,6 @@ export class Runner {
     const context: TaskRunnerState = {
       config,
       reporter,
-      plugins: [],
       phases: [],
     };
 
diff --git a/packages/playwright-test/src/runner/tasks.ts b/packages/playwright-test/src/runner/tasks.ts
index 49f83b580e..f1e236a245 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-test/src/runner/tasks.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-test/src/runner/tasks.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ import path from 'path';
 import { promisify } from 'util';
 import { debug, rimraf } from 'playwright-core/lib/utilsBundle';
 import { Dispatcher } from './dispatcher';
-import type { TestRunnerPlugin, TestRunnerPluginRegistration } from '../plugins';
+import type { TestRunnerPluginRegistration } from '../plugins';
 import type { Multiplexer } from '../reporters/multiplexer';
 import type { TestGroup } from '../runner/testGroups';
 import { createTestGroups } from '../runner/testGroups';
@@ -41,7 +41,6 @@ type ProjectWithTestGroups = {
 export type TaskRunnerState = {
   reporter: Multiplexer;
   config: FullConfigInternal;
-  plugins: TestRunnerPlugin[];
   rootSuite?: Suite;
   phases: {
     dispatcher: Dispatcher,
@@ -52,25 +51,20 @@ export type TaskRunnerState = {
 export function createTaskRunner(config: FullConfigInternal, reporter: Multiplexer): TaskRunner<TaskRunnerState> {
   const taskRunner = new TaskRunner<TaskRunnerState>(reporter, config.globalTimeout);
 
-  for (const plugin of config._internal.pluginRegistrations)
+  for (const plugin of config._internal.plugins)
     taskRunner.addTask('plugin setup', createPluginSetupTask(plugin));
-  if (config.globalSetup || config.globalTeardown)
-    taskRunner.addTask('global setup', createGlobalSetupTask());
   taskRunner.addTask('load tests', createLoadTask());
-  taskRunner.addTask('shard tests', createTestGroupsTask());
-  taskRunner.addTask('prepare to run', createRemoveOutputDirsTask());
-  taskRunner.addTask('plugin begin', async ({ rootSuite, plugins }) => {
-    for (const plugin of plugins)
-      await plugin.begin?.(rootSuite!);
-  });
-
+  taskRunner.addTask('clear output', createRemoveOutputDirsTask());
+  taskRunner.addTask('prepare workers', createTestGroupsTask());
+  for (const plugin of config._internal.plugins)
+    taskRunner.addTask('plugin begin', async ({ rootSuite }) => plugin.instance?.begin?.(rootSuite!));
   taskRunner.addTask('report begin', async ({ reporter, rootSuite }) => {
     reporter.onBegin?.(config, rootSuite!);
     return () => reporter.onEnd();
   });
-
+  if (config.globalSetup || config.globalTeardown)
+    taskRunner.addTask('global setup', createGlobalSetupTask());
   taskRunner.addTask('test suite', createRunTestsTask());
-
   return taskRunner;
 }
 
@@ -84,16 +78,14 @@ export function createTaskRunnerForList(config: FullConfigInternal, reporter: Mu
   return taskRunner;
 }
 
-function createPluginSetupTask(pluginRegistration: TestRunnerPluginRegistration): Task<TaskRunnerState> {
-  return async ({ config, reporter, plugins }) => {
-    let plugin: TestRunnerPlugin;
-    if (typeof pluginRegistration === 'function')
-      plugin = await pluginRegistration();
+function createPluginSetupTask(plugin: TestRunnerPluginRegistration): Task<TaskRunnerState> {
+  return async ({ config, reporter }) => {
+    if (typeof plugin.factory === 'function')
+      plugin.instance = await plugin.factory();
     else
-      plugin = pluginRegistration;
-    plugins.push(plugin);
-    await plugin.setup?.(config, config._internal.configDir, reporter);
-    return () => plugin.teardown?.();
+      plugin.instance = plugin.factory;
+    await plugin.instance?.setup?.(config, config._internal.configDir, reporter);
+    return () => plugin.instance?.teardown?.();
   };
 }