diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 1314288a..f89dfa8e 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+45.rc
+=====
+* Misc. bug fixes and cleanups [Florian; !267, !224, !272]
+
+Contributors:
+  Florian Müllner
+
+Translators:
+  Sabri Ünal [tr], Florentina Musat [ro], A S Alam [pa]
+
 45.beta
 =======
 * Port extensions to ESM [Florian; !259, !266, !268, !269]
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index b35c96c2..6a134e89 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
 
 project('gnome-shell-extensions',
-  version: '45.beta',
+  version: '45.rc',
   meson_version: '>= 0.58.0',
   license: 'GPL2+'
 )