diff --git a/consensus-entrypoint b/consensus-entrypoint
index 05b89467a..6a4751e8d 100755
--- a/consensus-entrypoint
+++ b/consensus-entrypoint
@@ -46,13 +46,18 @@ until [ "$(curl -s --max-time 10 --connect-timeout 5 -w '%{http_code}' -o /dev/n
   sleep 5
 done
 
-if PUBLIC_IP=$(get_public_ip); then
-  echo "fetched public IP is: $PUBLIC_IP"
+if [[ -z "${BASE_NODE_P2P_ADVERTISE_IP:-}" ]]; then
+    if PUBLIC_IP=$(get_public_ip); then
+        echo "fetched public IP is: $PUBLIC_IP"
+        export BASE_NODE_P2P_ADVERTISE_IP=$PUBLIC_IP
+    else
+        echo "Could not retrieve public IP and BASE_NODE_P2P_ADVERTISE_IP is not set."
+        exit 8
+    fi
 else
-  echo "Could not retrieve public IP."
-  exit 8
+    echo "Using explicitly configured BASE_NODE_P2P_ADVERTISE_IP: $BASE_NODE_P2P_ADVERTISE_IP"
 fi
-export BASE_NODE_P2P_ADVERTISE_IP=$PUBLIC_IP
+
 
 echo "$BASE_NODE_L2_ENGINE_AUTH_RAW" > "$BASE_NODE_L2_ENGINE_AUTH"