diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/WebServiceMessage.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/WebServiceMessage.java
index b6bbfe63..150709e2 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/WebServiceMessage.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/WebServiceMessage.java
@@ -42,8 +42,11 @@ public interface WebServiceMessage {
     Source getPayloadSource();
 
     /**
-     * Returns the contents of the message as a {@link Result}. <p>Implementations that are read-only will throw an
-     * {@link UnsupportedOperationException}.
+     * Returns the contents of the message as a {@link Result}.
+     * <p/>
+     * Calling this method removes the current payload.
+     * <p/>
+     * Implementations that are read-only will throw an {@link UnsupportedOperationException}.
      *
      * @return the message contents
      * @throws UnsupportedOperationException if the message is read-only
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/SoapBody.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/SoapBody.java
index c625977a..221a5f00 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/SoapBody.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/SoapBody.java
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ import java.util.Locale;
 import javax.xml.transform.Result;
 import javax.xml.transform.Source;
 
+import org.springframework.ws.WebServiceMessage;
+
 /**
  * Represents the <code>Body</code> element in a SOAP message. A SOAP body contains the <strong>payload</strong> of the
  * message. This payload can be custom XML, or a <code>SoapFault</code> (but not both).
@@ -40,13 +42,17 @@ public interface SoapBody extends SoapElement {
      * Returns a <code>Source</code> that represents the contents of the body.
      *
      * @return the message contents
+     * @see WebServiceMessage#getPayloadSource()
      */
     Source getPayloadSource();
 
     /**
      * Returns a <code>Result</code> that represents the contents of the body.
+     * <p/>
+     * Calling this method removes the current content of the body.
      *
      * @return the message contents
+     * @see WebServiceMessage#getPayloadResult()
      */
     Result getPayloadResult();
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomContentHandler.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomContentHandler.java
deleted file mode 100644
index f9e38db6..00000000
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomContentHandler.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,44 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Copyright 2006 the original author or authors.
- *
- * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
- * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
- * You may obtain a copy of the License at
- *
- *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- *
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
- * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
- * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
- * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
- * limitations under the License.
- */
-
-package org.springframework.ws.soap.axiom;
-
-import org.apache.axiom.om.OMElement;
-import org.apache.axiom.om.impl.builder.SAXOMBuilder;
-import org.springframework.util.Assert;
-import org.xml.sax.SAXException;
-
-/**
- * Specific SAX ContentHandler that adds the resulting AXIOM OMElement to a specified parent element when
- * <code>endDocument</code> is called. Used for returing <code>SAXResult</code>s from Axiom elements.
- *
- * @author Arjen Poutsma
- * @since 1.0.0
- */
-class AxiomContentHandler extends SAXOMBuilder {
-
-    private OMElement parentElement = null;
-
-    public AxiomContentHandler(OMElement parentElement) {
-        Assert.notNull(parentElement, "No parentElement given");
-        this.parentElement = parentElement;
-    }
-
-    public void endDocument() throws SAXException {
-        super.endDocument();
-        parentElement.addChild(super.getRootElement());
-    }
-}
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapBody.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapBody.java
index 72fdfd1d..15929ddb 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapBody.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapBody.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import org.apache.axiom.soap.SOAPFactory;
 import org.apache.axiom.soap.SOAPFault;
 import org.springframework.ws.soap.SoapBody;
 import org.springframework.ws.soap.SoapFault;
+import org.springframework.ws.soap.axiom.support.AxiomUtils;
 import org.springframework.xml.transform.StaxSource;
 
 /**
@@ -64,7 +65,8 @@ abstract class AxiomSoapBody extends AxiomSoapElement implements SoapBody {
     }
 
     public Result getPayloadResult() {
-        return new SAXResult(new AxiomContentHandler(getAxiomBody()));
+        AxiomUtils.removeContents(getAxiomBody());
+        return new SAXResult(new AxiomHandler(getAxiomBody(), getAxiomFactory()));
     }
 
     public boolean hasFault() {
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapFaultDetail.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapFaultDetail.java
index 1badf7b6..ceabb393 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapFaultDetail.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapFaultDetail.java
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ class AxiomSoapFaultDetail extends AxiomSoapElement implements SoapFaultDetail {
     }
 
     public Result getResult() {
-        return new SAXResult(new AxiomContentHandler(getAxiomFaultDetail()));
+        return new SAXResult(new AxiomHandler(getAxiomFaultDetail(), getAxiomFactory()));
     }
 
     protected SOAPFaultDetail getAxiomFaultDetail() {
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapFaultDetailElement.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapFaultDetailElement.java
index 26fbb135..64cf29ff 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapFaultDetailElement.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapFaultDetailElement.java
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ class AxiomSoapFaultDetailElement extends AxiomSoapElement implements SoapFaultD
 
     public Result getResult() {
         try {
-            return new SAXResult(new AxiomContentHandler(getAxiomElement()));
+            return new SAXResult(new AxiomHandler(getAxiomElement(), getAxiomFactory()));
         }
         catch (OMException ex) {
             throw new AxiomSoapFaultException(ex);
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapHeader.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapHeader.java
index 04c3f14f..6410ab25 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapHeader.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapHeader.java
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ abstract class AxiomSoapHeader extends AxiomSoapElement implements SoapHeader {
     }
 
     public Result getResult() {
-        return new SAXResult(new AxiomContentHandler(getAxiomHeader()));
+        return new SAXResult(new AxiomHandler(getAxiomHeader(), getAxiomFactory()));
     }
 
     public SoapHeaderElement addHeaderElement(QName name) {
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapHeaderElement.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapHeaderElement.java
index 6d4f565e..5f10cf3d 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapHeaderElement.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/AxiomSoapHeaderElement.java
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ class AxiomSoapHeaderElement extends AxiomSoapElement implements SoapHeaderEleme
 
     public Result getResult() {
         try {
-            return new SAXResult(new AxiomContentHandler(getAxiomHeaderBlock()));
+            return new SAXResult(new AxiomHandler(getAxiomHeaderBlock(), getAxiomFactory()));
         }
         catch (OMException ex) {
             throw new AxiomSoapHeaderException(ex);
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/support/AxiomUtils.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/support/AxiomUtils.java
index 13512c5e..514af22d 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/support/AxiomUtils.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/axiom/support/AxiomUtils.java
@@ -16,12 +16,16 @@
 
 package org.springframework.ws.soap.axiom.support;
 
+import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.Locale;
 import javax.xml.namespace.QName;
 
+import org.apache.axiom.om.OMContainer;
 import org.apache.axiom.om.OMElement;
 import org.apache.axiom.om.OMException;
 import org.apache.axiom.om.OMNamespace;
+import org.apache.axiom.om.OMNode;
+
 import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
 import org.springframework.xml.namespace.QNameUtils;
 
@@ -81,5 +85,13 @@ public abstract class AxiomUtils {
         return StringUtils.parseLocaleString(language);
     }
 
+    /** Removes the contents (i.e. children) of the container. */
+    public static void removeContents(OMContainer container) {
+        for (Iterator iterator = container.getChildren(); iterator.hasNext();) {
+            OMNode child = (OMNode) iterator.next();
+            child.detach();
+        }
+    }
+
 
 }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/AbstractSoapBodyTestCase.java b/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/AbstractSoapBodyTestCase.java
index 461841d0..32a2cede 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/AbstractSoapBodyTestCase.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/AbstractSoapBodyTestCase.java
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@
 package org.springframework.ws.soap;
 
 import java.util.Locale;
+import javax.xml.transform.dom.DOMResult;
+
+import org.w3c.dom.Document;
+import org.w3c.dom.Element;
+import org.w3c.dom.NodeList;
 
 import org.springframework.xml.transform.StringResult;
 import org.springframework.xml.transform.StringSource;
@@ -34,11 +39,21 @@ public abstract class AbstractSoapBodyTestCase extends AbstractSoapElementTestCa
 
     public void testPayload() throws Exception {
         String payload = "<payload xmlns='http://www.springframework.org' />";
-        StringSource contents = new StringSource(payload);
-        transformer.transform(contents, soapBody.getPayloadResult());
+        transformer.transform(new StringSource(payload), soapBody.getPayloadResult());
         assertPayloadEqual(payload);
     }
 
+    public void testGetPayloadResultTwice() throws Exception {
+        String payload = "<payload xmlns='http://www.springframework.org' />";
+        transformer.transform(new StringSource(payload), soapBody.getPayloadResult());
+        transformer.transform(new StringSource(payload), soapBody.getPayloadResult());
+        DOMResult domResult = new DOMResult();
+        transformer.transform(soapBody.getSource(), domResult);
+        Element bodyElement = ((Document) domResult.getNode()).getDocumentElement();
+        NodeList children = bodyElement.getChildNodes();
+        assertEquals("Invalid amount of child nodes", 1, children.getLength());
+    }
+
     public void testNoFault() throws Exception {
         assertFalse("body has fault", soapBody.hasFault());
     }