diff --git a/confluent_kafka/src/Consumer.c b/confluent_kafka/src/Consumer.c
index 3ecc977e3..f6dcc143a 100644
--- a/confluent_kafka/src/Consumer.c
+++ b/confluent_kafka/src/Consumer.c
@@ -981,11 +981,8 @@ static PyObject *Consumer_consume (Handle *self, PyObject *args,
 static PyObject *Consumer_close (Handle *self, PyObject *ignore) {
         CallState cs;
 
-        if (!self->rk) {
-                PyErr_SetString(PyExc_RuntimeError,
-                                "Consumer already closed");
-                return NULL;
-        }
+        if (!self->rk)
+                Py_RETURN_NONE;
 
         CallState_begin(self, &cs);
 
@@ -1275,7 +1272,6 @@ static PyMethodDef Consumer_methods[] = {
 	  "see :py:func::`poll()` for more info.\n"
 	  "\n"
 	  "  :rtype: None\n"
-      "  :raises: RuntimeError if called on a closed consumer\n"
 	  "\n"
 	},
         { "list_topics", (PyCFunction)list_topics, METH_VARARGS|METH_KEYWORDS,
diff --git a/tests/test_Consumer.py b/tests/test_Consumer.py
index 0c89f9d9b..7d7cb485d 100644
--- a/tests/test_Consumer.py
+++ b/tests/test_Consumer.py
@@ -209,8 +209,8 @@ def test_offsets_for_times():
     c.close()
 
 
-def test_multiple_close_throw_exception():
-    """ Calling Consumer.close() multiple times should throw Runtime Exception
+def test_multiple_close_does_not_throw_exception():
+    """ Calling Consumer.close() multiple times should not throw Runtime Exception
     """
     c = Consumer({'group.id': 'test',
                   'enable.auto.commit': True,
@@ -222,10 +222,7 @@ def test_multiple_close_throw_exception():
 
     c.unsubscribe()
     c.close()
-
-    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError) as ex:
-        c.close()
-    assert ex.match('Consumer already closed')
+    c.close()
 
 
 def test_any_method_after_close_throws_exception():