diff --git a/lib/platform/github/index.js b/lib/platform/github/index.js
index 0feb77f36df5b8335edd5c2977d3d1e8949ef0e7..b23555415ca6a53f1ca0f58a328d0af61f19c0ba 100644
--- a/lib/platform/github/index.js
+++ b/lib/platform/github/index.js
@@ -328,18 +328,22 @@ async function branchExists(branchName) {
 
 async function getAllRenovateBranches(branchPrefix) {
   logger.trace('getAllRenovateBranches');
-  const allBranches = (await get(
-    `repos/${config.repository}/git/refs/heads/${branchPrefix}`,
-    {
-      paginate: true,
-    }
-  )).body;
-  return allBranches.reduce((arr, branch) => {
-    if (branch.ref.indexOf(`refs/heads/${branchPrefix}`) === 0) {
-      arr.push(branch.ref.substring('refs/heads/'.length));
-    }
-    return arr;
-  }, []);
+  try {
+    const allBranches = (await get(
+      `repos/${config.repository}/git/refs/heads/${branchPrefix}`,
+      {
+        paginate: true,
+      }
+    )).body;
+    return allBranches.reduce((arr, branch) => {
+      if (branch.ref.indexOf(`refs/heads/${branchPrefix}`) === 0) {
+        arr.push(branch.ref.substring('refs/heads/'.length));
+      }
+      return arr;
+    }, []);
+  } catch (err) /* istanbul ignore next */ {
+    return [];
+  }
 }
 
 async function isBranchStale(branchName) {