diff --git a/e2e/run.sh b/e2e/run.sh
index a118b5d0f..3462499fd 100755
--- a/e2e/run.sh
+++ b/e2e/run.sh
@@ -11,11 +11,6 @@ readonly cluster_name="kind-test-postgres-operator"
 # avoid interference with previous test runs
 if [[ $(kind get clusters | grep "^${cluster_name}*") != "" ]]
 then
-  # true if variable is set; bash >= v4.2
-  if [[ -v KUBECONFIG ]];then 
-      rm "$KUBECONFIG"
-      unset KUBECONFIG
-  fi
   kind delete cluster --name ${cluster_name}
 fi
 
@@ -23,4 +18,5 @@ kind create cluster --name ${cluster_name} --config ./e2e/kind-config-multikind.
 export KUBECONFIG="$(kind get kubeconfig-path --name=${cluster_name})"
 kubectl cluster-info
 
-python3 -m unittest discover --start-directory e2e/tests/
\ No newline at end of file
+python3 -m unittest discover --start-directory e2e/tests/ &&
+kind delete cluster --name ${cluster_name}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/e2e/tests/test_example.py b/e2e/tests/test_example.py
index 5d77b9f6d..db3814297 100755
--- a/e2e/tests/test_example.py
+++ b/e2e/tests/test_example.py
@@ -8,16 +8,20 @@ class SampleTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
 
     nodes = set(["kind-test-postgres-operator-worker", "kind-test-postgres-operator-worker2", "kind-test-postgres-operator-worker3"])
 
-    config = None
     @classmethod
     def setUpClass(cls):
-
-        # deploy operator 
+        '''
+        Deploy operator to a "kind" cluster created by /e2e/run.sh using examples from /manifests.
+        This operator deployment is to be shared among all tests of this suit.
+        '''
 
         _ = config.load_kube_config()
         k8s_client = client.ApiClient()
 
-        # TODO split into multiple files
+        # HACK 
+        # 1. creating RBAC entites with a separate client fails with 
+        # "AttributeError: object has no attribute 'select_header_accept'"
+        # 2. utils.create_from_yaml cannot create multiple entites from a single file
         subprocess.run(["kubectl", "create", "-f", "manifests/operator-service-account-rbac.yaml"])
 
         for filename in ["configmap.yaml", "postgres-operator.yaml"]:
@@ -26,24 +30,44 @@ class SampleTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
 
         v1 = client.CoreV1Api()
         pod_phase = None
-
         while pod_phase != 'Running':
             pods = v1.list_namespaced_pod('default', label_selector='name=postgres-operator').items
             if pods:
                operator_pod = pods[0]
                pod_phase = operator_pod.status.phase
                print("Waiting for the operator pod to start. Current phase: " + pod_phase)
-               time.sleep(5)
+            time.sleep(5)
 
     @classmethod
     def tearDownClass(cls):
-        apps_v1 = client.AppsV1Api()
-        _ = apps_v1.delete_namespaced_deployment("postgres-operator", "default")
+        '''
+        /e2e/run.sh deletes the 'kind' cluster after successful run along with all operator-related entities.
+        In the case of test failure the cluster will stay to enable manual examination;
+        next invocation of "make e2e" will re-create it.
+        '''
+        pass
 
     def setUp(self):
+        '''
+        Deploy a new Postgres DB for each test.
+        '''
         self.config = config.load_kube_config()
         self.v1 = client.CoreV1Api()
 
+        k8s_client = client.ApiClient()
+
+        # TODO substitue with utils.create_from_yaml and Python client  for acid.zalan.do
+        subprocess.run(["kubectl", "create", "-f", "manifests/minimal-postgres-manifest.yaml"])
+
+        pod_phase = None
+        while pod_phase != 'Running':
+            pods = self.v1.list_namespaced_pod('default', label_selector='spilo-role=master').items
+            if pods:
+               operator_pod = pods[0]
+               pod_phase = operator_pod.status.phase
+               print("Waiting for the Spilo master pod to start. Current phase: " + pod_phase)
+               time.sleep(5)
+
     def test_assign_labels_to_nodes(self):
         """
            Ensure labeling nodes through the externally connected Python client works.
@@ -64,23 +88,27 @@ class SampleTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
             v1_node_var = self.v1.read_node(node)
             if v1_node_var.metadata.labels['lifecycle-status'] == 'ready':
                 labelled_nodes.add(v1_node_var.metadata.name)
-        
+
         self.assertEqual(self.nodes, labelled_nodes,"nodes incorrectly labelled")
 
     def tearDown(self):
         """
-           Each test must restore the original cluster state
-           to avoid introducing dependencies between tests
+           Delete the database to avoid introducing dependencies between tests
         """
-        body = {
-            "metadata": {
-                "labels": {
-                    "lifecycle-status": None # deletes label
-                 }
-            }
-        }
-        for node in self.nodes:
-            _ = self.v1.patch_node(node, body)
+        # HACK workaround for #551
+        time.sleep(60)
+
+        _ = config.load_kube_config()
+        crd = client.CustomObjectsApi()
+        body = client.V1DeleteOptions()
+        _ = crd.delete_namespaced_custom_object("acid.zalan.do", "v1", "default", "postgresqls", "acid-minimal-cluster", body) 
+
+        # wait for the pods to be deleted
+        pods = self.v1.list_namespaced_pod('default', label_selector='spilo-role=master').items
+        while pods:
+            pods = self.v1.list_namespaced_pod('default', label_selector='spilo-role=master').items
+            print("Waiting for the database to be deleted.")
+            time.sleep(5)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()
\ No newline at end of file