diff --git a/org.springframework.integration-tests/src/test/java/org/springframework/orm/hibernate3/HibernateSessionFactoryConfigurationTests.java b/org.springframework.integration-tests/src/test/java/org/springframework/orm/hibernate3/HibernateSessionFactoryConfigurationTests.java
index 66344b54be..3f9df777ad 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration-tests/src/test/java/org/springframework/orm/hibernate3/HibernateSessionFactoryConfigurationTests.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration-tests/src/test/java/org/springframework/orm/hibernate3/HibernateSessionFactoryConfigurationTests.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import org.hibernate.SessionFactory;
 import org.hibernate.Transaction;
 import org.hibernate.cfg.AnnotationConfiguration;
 import org.hibernate.classic.Session;
+import org.hibernate.engine.SessionFactoryImplementor;
 import org.junit.Ignore;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException;
@@ -131,10 +132,11 @@ public class HibernateSessionFactoryConfigurationTests {
 	}
 
 	@Test
-	public void builtSessionFactoryIsDisposableBeanProxy() {
+	public void builtSessionFactoryIsProxyImplementingDisposableBeanAndSessionFactoryImplementor() {
 		AnnotationConfigApplicationContext ctx = new AnnotationConfigApplicationContext(AnnotationSessionFactoryConfig.class);
 		SessionFactory sessionFactory = ctx.getBean(SessionFactory.class);
 		assertThat(sessionFactory, instanceOf(DisposableBean.class));
+		assertThat(sessionFactory, instanceOf(SessionFactoryImplementor.class));
 		assertThat(sessionFactory.toString(), startsWith("DisposableBean proxy for SessionFactory"));
 		ctx.close();
 		assertTrue("SessionFactory was not closed as expected", sessionFactory.isClosed());
diff --git a/org.springframework.orm/src/main/java/org/springframework/orm/hibernate3/SessionFactoryBuilderSupport.java b/org.springframework.orm/src/main/java/org/springframework/orm/hibernate3/SessionFactoryBuilderSupport.java
index a9a2295b12..8068ab91ac 100644
--- a/org.springframework.orm/src/main/java/org/springframework/orm/hibernate3/SessionFactoryBuilderSupport.java
+++ b/org.springframework.orm/src/main/java/org/springframework/orm/hibernate3/SessionFactoryBuilderSupport.java
@@ -232,8 +232,9 @@ public abstract class SessionFactoryBuilderSupport<This extends SessionFactoryBu
 
 	/**
 	 * Build the underlying Hibernate SessionFactory.
-	 * @return the raw SessionFactory (potentially to be wrapped with a
-	 * transaction-aware proxy before it is exposed to the application)
+	 * @return the {@code SessionFactory}, potentially wrapped as a
+	 * {@code DisposableBean} and/or transaction-aware proxy before it is exposed to the
+	 * application.
 	 * @throws Exception in case of initialization failure
 	 */
 	public SessionFactory buildSessionFactory() throws Exception {
@@ -244,8 +245,9 @@ public abstract class SessionFactoryBuilderSupport<This extends SessionFactoryBu
 
 	/**
 	 * Populate the underlying {@code Configuration} instance with the various
-	 * properties of this builder. Customization may be performed through
-	 * {@code pre*} and {@code post*} methods.
+	 * properties of this builder, then return the raw session factory resulting from
+	 * calling {@link Configuration#buildSessionFactory()}. Customization may be performed
+	 * through {@code pre*} and {@code post*} methods.
 	 * @see #preBuildSessionFactory()
 	 * @see #postProcessMappings()
 	 * @see #postBuildSessionFactory()
@@ -565,8 +567,9 @@ public abstract class SessionFactoryBuilderSupport<This extends SessionFactoryBu
 	 * <p>Subclasses may override this to implement transaction awareness through
 	 * a {@code SessionFactory} proxy for example, or even to avoid creation of the
 	 * {@code DisposableBean} proxy altogether.
-	 * @param rawSf the raw {@code SessionFactory} as built by {@link #buildSessionFactory()}
-	 * @return the {@code SessionFactory} reference to expose
+	 * @param rawSf the raw {@code SessionFactory} as built by {@link #doBuildSessionFactory()}
+	 * @return a proxied {@code SessionFactory} if wrapping was necessary, otherwise the
+	 * original given 'raw' {@code SessionFactory} object.
 	 * @see #buildSessionFactory()
 	 */
 	protected SessionFactory wrapSessionFactoryIfNecessary(final SessionFactory rawSf) {
@@ -574,6 +577,7 @@ public abstract class SessionFactoryBuilderSupport<This extends SessionFactoryBu
 			this.beanClassLoader,
 			new Class<?>[] {
 				SessionFactory.class,
+				SessionFactoryImplementor.class,
 				DisposableBean.class
 			},
 			new InvocationHandler() {