diff --git a/cypress/integration/rendering/flowchart-v2.spec.js b/cypress/integration/rendering/flowchart-v2.spec.js
index 3eb2a0432a..c2fd0b0119 100644
--- a/cypress/integration/rendering/flowchart-v2.spec.js
+++ b/cypress/integration/rendering/flowchart-v2.spec.js
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ describe('Flowchart v2', () => {
       const style = svg.attr('style');
       expect(style).to.match(/^max-width: [\d.]+px;$/);
       const maxWidthValue = parseFloat(style.match(/[\d.]+/g).join(''));
-      expect(maxWidthValue).to.be.within(290 * 0.95 - 1, 290 * 1.05);
+      expect(maxWidthValue).to.be.within(446 * 0.95 - 1, 446 * 1.05);
     });
   });
   it('8: should render a flowchart when useMaxWidth is false', () => {
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ describe('Flowchart v2', () => {
       const width = parseFloat(svg.attr('width'));
       // use within because the absolute value can be slightly different depending on the environment ±5%
       // expect(height).to.be.within(446 * 0.95, 446 * 1.05);
-      expect(width).to.be.within(290 * 0.95 - 1, 290 * 1.05);
+      expect(width).to.be.within(446 * 0.95 - 1, 446 * 1.05);
       expect(svg).to.not.have.attr('style');
     });
   });
@@ -1047,7 +1047,9 @@ end
           A --lb3--> TOP --lb4--> B
           B1 --lb5--> B2
         `,
-        { flowchart: { subGraphTitleMargin: { top: 10, bottom: 5 } } }
+        {
+          flowchart: { subGraphTitleMargin: { top: 10, bottom: 5 } },
+        }
       );
     });
   });
diff --git a/cypress/integration/rendering/flowchart.spec.js b/cypress/integration/rendering/flowchart.spec.js
index e4766e7923..d3a83ae5f2 100644
--- a/cypress/integration/rendering/flowchart.spec.js
+++ b/cypress/integration/rendering/flowchart.spec.js
@@ -733,7 +733,7 @@ describe('Graph', () => {
   });
   it('38: should render a flowchart when useMaxWidth is true (default)', () => {
     renderGraph(
-      `graph TD
+      `flowchart TD
       A[Christmas] -->|Get money| B(Go shopping)
       B --> C{Let me think}
       C -->|One| D[Laptop]
@@ -751,7 +751,7 @@ describe('Graph', () => {
       const style = svg.attr('style');
       expect(style).to.match(/^max-width: [\d.]+px;$/);
       const maxWidthValue = parseFloat(style.match(/[\d.]+/g).join(''));
-      expect(maxWidthValue).to.be.within(300 * 0.9, 300 * 1.1);
+      expect(maxWidthValue).to.be.within(446 * 0.9, 446 * 1.1);
     });
   });
   it('39: should render a flowchart when useMaxWidth is false', () => {
@@ -770,7 +770,7 @@ describe('Graph', () => {
       const width = parseFloat(svg.attr('width'));
       // use within because the absolute value can be slightly different depending on the environment ±10%
       // expect(height).to.be.within(446 * 0.95, 446 * 1.05);
-      expect(width).to.be.within(300 * 0.9, 300 * 1.1);
+      expect(width).to.be.within(446 * 0.9, 446 * 1.1);
       expect(svg).to.not.have.attr('style');
     });
   });
@@ -905,13 +905,16 @@ graph TD
   it('67: should be able to style default node independently', () => {
     imgSnapshotTest(
       `
-    flowchart TD
+      flowchart TD
       classDef default fill:#a34
       hello --> default
 
       style default stroke:#000,stroke-width:4px
     `,
-      { htmlLabels: true, flowchart: { htmlLabels: true }, securityLevel: 'loose' }
+      {
+        flowchart: { htmlLabels: true },
+        securityLevel: 'loose',
+      }
     );
   });
 });
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/createText.ts b/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/createText.ts
index 623e22537c..0ef4c46871 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/createText.ts
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/createText.ts
@@ -224,7 +224,9 @@ export const createText = async (
     const vertexNode = await addHtmlSpan(el, node, width, classes, addSvgBackground);
     return vertexNode;
   } else {
-    const structuredText = markdownToLines(text.replace('<br>', '<br/>'), config);
+    //sometimes the user might add br tags with 1 or more spaces in between, so we need to replace them with <br/>
+    const sanitizeBR = text.replace(/<br\s*\/?>/g, '<br/>');
+    const structuredText = markdownToLines(sanitizeBR.replace('<br>', '<br/>'), config);
     const svgLabel = createFormattedText(
       width,
       el,
@@ -235,9 +237,13 @@ export const createText = async (
       if (/stroke:/.exec(style)) {
         style = style.replace('stroke:', 'lineColor:');
       }
-      select(svgLabel)
-        .select('text')
-        .attr('style', style.replace(/color:/g, 'fill:'));
+
+      const nodeLabelTextStyle = style
+        .replace(/stroke:[^;]+;?/g, '')
+        .replace(/stroke-width:[^;]+;?/g, '')
+        .replace(/fill:[^;]+;?/g, '')
+        .replace(/color:/g, 'fill:');
+      select(svgLabel).attr('style', nodeLabelTextStyle);
       // svgLabel.setAttribute('style', style);
     } else {
       //On style, assume `stroke`, `stroke-width` are used for edge path, so remove them
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/handle-markdown-text.ts b/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/handle-markdown-text.ts
index 7f5b12a3fe..4b6a04428d 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/handle-markdown-text.ts
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/handle-markdown-text.ts
@@ -81,6 +81,8 @@ export function markdownToHTML(markdown: string, { markdownAutoWrap }: MermaidCo
       return `<em>${node.tokens?.map(output).join('')}</em>`;
     } else if (node.type === 'paragraph') {
       return `<p>${node.tokens?.map(output).join('')}</p>`;
+    } else if (node.type === 'space') {
+      return '';
     } else if (node.type === 'html') {
       return `${node.text}`;
     }