diff --git a/cypress/integration/rendering/sequencediagram.spec.js b/cypress/integration/rendering/sequencediagram.spec.js
index e5459637b..185cc4133 100644
--- a/cypress/integration/rendering/sequencediagram.spec.js
+++ b/cypress/integration/rendering/sequencediagram.spec.js
@@ -88,6 +88,16 @@ context('Sequence diagram', () => {
       {}
     );
   });
+  it('should handle empty lines', () => {
+    imgSnapshotTest(
+      `
+      sequenceDiagram
+      Alice->>John: Hello John<br/>
+      John-->>Alice: Great<br/><br/>day!
+    `,
+      {}
+    );
+  });
   it('should handle line breaks and wrap annotations', () => {
     imgSnapshotTest(
       `
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/svgDraw.js b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/svgDraw.js
index a8feea2a1..a3f7514f6 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/svgDraw.js
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/svgDraw.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import common from '../common/common.js';
 import * as svgDrawCommon from '../common/svgDrawCommon';
 import { addFunction } from '../../interactionDb.js';
-import { parseFontSize } from '../../utils.js';
+import { ZERO_WIDTH_SPACE, parseFontSize } from '../../utils.js';
 import { sanitizeUrl } from '@braintree/sanitize-url';
 
 export const drawRect = function (elem, rectData) {
@@ -224,15 +224,16 @@ export const drawText = function (elem, textData) {
       textElem.attr('dy', dy);
     }
 
+    const text = line || ZERO_WIDTH_SPACE;
     if (textData.tspan) {
       const span = textElem.append('tspan');
       span.attr('x', textData.x);
       if (textData.fill !== undefined) {
         span.attr('fill', textData.fill);
       }
-      span.text(line);
+      span.text(text);
     } else {
-      textElem.text(line);
+      textElem.text(text);
     }
     if (
       textData.valign !== undefined &&
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/utils.ts b/packages/mermaid/src/utils.ts
index 6f824062d..e48b49fcd 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/utils.ts
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ import assignWithDepth from './assignWithDepth.js';
 import { MermaidConfig } from './config.type.js';
 import memoize from 'lodash-es/memoize.js';
 
+export const ZERO_WIDTH_SPACE = '\u200b';
+
 // Effectively an enum of the supported curve types, accessible by name
 const d3CurveTypes = {
   curveBasis: curveBasis,
@@ -765,7 +767,7 @@ export const calculateTextDimensions: (
       const dim = { width: 0, height: 0, lineHeight: 0 };
       for (const line of lines) {
         const textObj = getTextObj();
-        textObj.text = line;
+        textObj.text = line || ZERO_WIDTH_SPACE;
         const textElem = drawSimpleText(g, textObj)
           .style('font-size', _fontSizePx)
           .style('font-weight', fontWeight)