diff --git a/pkg/update/githubReleases.go b/pkg/update/githubReleases.go
index e310ebc9c..f79a8fdb5 100644
--- a/pkg/update/githubReleases.go
+++ b/pkg/update/githubReleases.go
@@ -624,11 +624,6 @@ func (o GitHubReleaseOptions) prepareVersion(nameHash, v, id string) (string, er
 		return "", nil
 	}
 
-	v, err := transformVersion(c.Update, v)
-	if err != nil {
-		return "", errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to transform version %s", v)
-	}
-
 	return v, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/update/githubReleases_test.go b/pkg/update/githubReleases_test.go
index ef43871a2..6b009eaae 100644
--- a/pkg/update/githubReleases_test.go
+++ b/pkg/update/githubReleases_test.go
@@ -304,14 +304,6 @@ func TestGitHubReleaseOptions_prepareVersion(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 		}, version: "v1.2.3", want: "v1.2.3", wantErr: assert.NoError},
-		{name: "transform-version", melangeConfig: config.Configuration{
-			Update: config.Update{
-				VersionTransform: []config.VersionTransform{
-					{Match: "_", Replace: "."},
-				},
-				GitHubMonitor: &config.GitHubMonitor{},
-			},
-		}, version: "1_2_3", want: "1.2.3", wantErr: assert.NoError},
 	}
 	for _, tt := range tests {
 		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/pkg/update/releaseMonitor.go b/pkg/update/releaseMonitor.go
index 56fcdd072..b80a61ac1 100644
--- a/pkg/update/releaseMonitor.go
+++ b/pkg/update/releaseMonitor.go
@@ -115,14 +115,6 @@ func (m MonitorService) getLatestReleaseMonitorVersions(melangePackages map[stri
 			latestVersion = strings.TrimSuffix(latestVersion, p.Config.Update.ReleaseMonitor.StripSuffix)
 		}
 
-		latestVersion, err = transformVersion(p.Config.Update, latestVersion)
-		if err != nil {
-			errorMessages[p.Config.Package.Name] = fmt.Sprintf(
-				"failed to apply version transforms to %s for package %s.  Error: %s",
-				latestVersion, p.Config.Package.Name, err,
-			)
-		}
-
 		latestVersionSemver, err := version.NewVersion(latestVersion)
 		if err != nil {
 			errorMessages[p.Config.Package.Name] = fmt.Sprintf(
diff --git a/pkg/update/update.go b/pkg/update/update.go
index 29ec60fc9..1e6407b4a 100644
--- a/pkg/update/update.go
+++ b/pkg/update/update.go
@@ -13,8 +13,6 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
-	"chainguard.dev/melange/pkg/config"
-
 	wolfiversions "github.com/wolfi-dev/wolfictl/pkg/versions"
 
 	"github.com/fatih/color"
@@ -256,27 +254,40 @@ func (o *Options) GetLatestVersions(dir string, packageNames []string) (map[stri
 		maps.Copy(latestVersions, v)
 	}
 
-	return latestVersions, nil
+	return o.mutatePackageVersions(latestVersions)
 }
 
-// if provided, transform the version using the update config
-func transformVersion(c config.Update, v string) (string, error) {
-	if len(c.VersionTransform) == 0 {
-		return v, nil
-	}
+// Apply any post-process version-transforms to the detected update versions.
+func (o *Options) mutatePackageVersions(packageVersions map[string]NewVersionResults) (map[string]NewVersionResults, error) {
+	mutatedPackageVersions := map[string]NewVersionResults{}
 
-	mutatedVersion := v
+	for k, nv := range packageVersions {
+		pc, ok := o.PackageConfigs[k]
+		if !ok {
+			return map[string]NewVersionResults{}, fmt.Errorf("package %s not found in PackageConfigs", k)
+		}
 
-	for _, tf := range c.VersionTransform {
-		matcher, err := regexp.Compile(tf.Match)
-		if err != nil {
-			return v, fmt.Errorf("unable to compile version transform regex: %w", err)
+		if len(pc.Config.Update.VersionTransform) == 0 {
+			mutatedPackageVersions[k] = nv
+			continue
+		}
+
+		scratchVersion := nv.Version
+
+		for _, tf := range pc.Config.Update.VersionTransform {
+			matcher, err := regexp.Compile(tf.Match)
+			if err != nil {
+				return map[string]NewVersionResults{}, fmt.Errorf("unable to compile version transform regex: %w", err)
+			}
+
+			scratchVersion = matcher.ReplaceAllString(scratchVersion, tf.Replace)
 		}
 
-		mutatedVersion = matcher.ReplaceAllString(mutatedVersion, tf.Replace)
+		nv.Version = scratchVersion
+		mutatedPackageVersions[k] = nv
 	}
 
-	return mutatedVersion, nil
+	return mutatedPackageVersions, nil
 }
 
 // function will iterate over all packages that need to be updated and create a pull request for each change by default unless batch mode which creates a single pull request