diff --git a/src/WireMock.Net/Serialization/MappingConverter.cs b/src/WireMock.Net/Serialization/MappingConverter.cs
index b88b0d849..cdc322246 100644
--- a/src/WireMock.Net/Serialization/MappingConverter.cs
+++ b/src/WireMock.Net/Serialization/MappingConverter.cs
@@ -5,9 +5,8 @@
 using WireMock.RequestBuilders;
 using WireMock.ResponseBuilders;
 using WireMock.Settings;
-using WireMock.Util;
-using WireMock.Validation;
 using WireMock.Types;
+using WireMock.Validation;
 
 namespace WireMock.Serialization
 {
diff --git a/src/WireMock.Net/Server/WireMockServer.Admin.cs b/src/WireMock.Net/Server/WireMockServer.Admin.cs
index 8ad49169c..d9fe06f5f 100644
--- a/src/WireMock.Net/Server/WireMockServer.Admin.cs
+++ b/src/WireMock.Net/Server/WireMockServer.Admin.cs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.IO;
 using System.Linq;
+using System.Net;
 using System.Net.Http;
 using System.Text;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
@@ -808,13 +809,17 @@ private IResponseBuilder InitResponseBuilder(ResponseModel responseModel)
                 return responseBuilder.WithProxy(proxyAndRecordSettings);
             }
 
-            if (responseModel.StatusCode is string)
+            if (responseModel.StatusCode is string statusCodeAsString)
             {
-                responseBuilder = responseBuilder.WithStatusCode((string) responseModel.StatusCode);
+                responseBuilder = responseBuilder.WithStatusCode(statusCodeAsString);
+            }
+            else if (responseModel.StatusCode is int statusCodeAsInt && statusCodeAsInt > 0)
+            {
+                responseBuilder = responseBuilder.WithStatusCode(statusCodeAsInt);
             }
             else
             {
-                responseBuilder = responseBuilder.WithStatusCode(Convert.ToInt32(responseModel.StatusCode));
+                responseBuilder = responseBuilder.WithStatusCode(HttpStatusCode.OK);
             }
 
             if (responseModel.Headers != null)
diff --git a/test/WireMock.Net.Tests/RequestMatchers/RequestMessageBodyMatcherTests.cs b/test/WireMock.Net.Tests/RequestMatchers/RequestMessageBodyMatcherTests.cs
index 6921847df..ab64189d0 100644
--- a/test/WireMock.Net.Tests/RequestMatchers/RequestMessageBodyMatcherTests.cs
+++ b/test/WireMock.Net.Tests/RequestMatchers/RequestMessageBodyMatcherTests.cs
@@ -4,9 +4,7 @@
 using System.Text;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using Moq;
-using Newtonsoft.Json;
 using NFluent;
-using System.Linq;
 using WireMock.Matchers;
 using WireMock.Matchers.Request;
 using WireMock.Models;
diff --git a/test/WireMock.Net.Tests/ResponseBuilders/ResponseWithHandlebarsTests.cs b/test/WireMock.Net.Tests/ResponseBuilders/ResponseWithHandlebarsTests.cs
index bca4e544a..698a6a96e 100644
--- a/test/WireMock.Net.Tests/ResponseBuilders/ResponseWithHandlebarsTests.cs
+++ b/test/WireMock.Net.Tests/ResponseBuilders/ResponseWithHandlebarsTests.cs
@@ -105,6 +105,53 @@ public async Task Response_ProvideResponse_Handlebars_Query()
             Check.That(responseMessage.BodyData.BodyAsString).Equals("test keya=1 idx=1 idx=2 keyb=5");
         }
 
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task Response_ProvideResponse_Handlebars_StatusCode()
+        {
+            // Assign
+            var body = new BodyData
+            {
+                BodyAsString = "abc",
+                DetectedBodyType = BodyType.String
+            };
+            var request = new RequestMessage(new UrlDetails("http://localhost/foo?a=400"), "POST", ClientIp, body);
+
+            var response = Response.Create()
+                .WithStatusCode("{{request.query.a}}")
+                .WithBody("test")
+                .WithTransformer();
+
+            // Act
+            var responseMessage = await response.ProvideResponseAsync(request, _settings);
+
+            // Assert
+            Check.That(responseMessage.BodyData.BodyAsString).Equals("test");
+            Check.That(responseMessage.StatusCode).Equals("400");
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task Response_ProvideResponse_Handlebars_StatusCodeIsNull()
+        {
+            // Assign
+            var body = new BodyData
+            {
+                BodyAsString = "abc",
+                DetectedBodyType = BodyType.String
+            };
+            var request = new RequestMessage(new UrlDetails("http://localhost/foo?a=400"), "POST", ClientIp, body);
+
+            var response = Response.Create()
+                .WithBody("test")
+                .WithTransformer();
+
+            // Act
+            var responseMessage = await response.ProvideResponseAsync(request, _settings);
+
+            // Assert
+            Check.That(responseMessage.BodyData.BodyAsString).Equals("test");
+            Check.That(responseMessage.StatusCode).Equals(200);
+        }
+
         [Fact]
         public async Task Response_ProvideResponse_Handlebars_Header()
         {
diff --git a/test/WireMock.Net.Tests/WireMockAdminApiTests.cs b/test/WireMock.Net.Tests/WireMockAdminApiTests.cs
index e921dddf1..9711fd296 100644
--- a/test/WireMock.Net.Tests/WireMockAdminApiTests.cs
+++ b/test/WireMock.Net.Tests/WireMockAdminApiTests.cs
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 using WireMock.Client;
 using WireMock.Handlers;
 using WireMock.Logging;
+using WireMock.Matchers;
+using WireMock.Models;
 using WireMock.Server;
 using WireMock.Settings;
 using Xunit;
@@ -88,8 +90,13 @@ public async Task IWireMockAdminApi_PutMappingAsync()
             server.Stop();
         }
 
-        [Fact]
-        public async Task IWireMockAdminApi_PostMappingAsync()
+        [Theory]
+        [InlineData(null, 200)]
+        [InlineData(-1, 200)]
+        [InlineData(0, 200)]
+        [InlineData(200, 200)]
+        [InlineData("200", "200")]
+        public async Task IWireMockAdminApi_PostMappingAsync(object statusCode, object expectedStatusCode)
         {
             // Arrange
             var server = WireMockServer.StartWithAdminInterface();
@@ -99,7 +106,7 @@ public async Task IWireMockAdminApi_PostMappingAsync()
             var model = new MappingModel
             {
                 Request = new RequestModel { Path = "/1" },
-                Response = new ResponseModel { Body = "txt", StatusCode = 200 },
+                Response = new ResponseModel { Body = "txt", StatusCode = statusCode },
                 Priority = 500,
                 Title = "test"
             };
@@ -114,6 +121,9 @@ public async Task IWireMockAdminApi_PostMappingAsync()
             Check.That(mapping).IsNotNull();
             Check.That(mapping.Title).Equals("test");
 
+            var response = await mapping.ProvideResponseAsync(new RequestMessage(new UrlDetails("http://localhost/1"), "GET", ""));
+            Check.That(response.StatusCode).Equals(expectedStatusCode);
+
             server.Stop();
         }