diff --git a/roles/kubespray_defaults/defaults/main/download.yml b/roles/kubespray_defaults/defaults/main/download.yml
index 8284db1ba..91c12c5fb 100644
--- a/roles/kubespray_defaults/defaults/main/download.yml
+++ b/roles/kubespray_defaults/defaults/main/download.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 ---
-local_release_dir: /tmp/releases
 download_cache_dir: /tmp/kubespray_cache
 
 # If this is true, debug information will be displayed but
diff --git a/roles/kubespray_defaults/defaults/main/main.yml b/roles/kubespray_defaults/defaults/main/main.yml
index eb9171119..7217d96ab 100644
--- a/roles/kubespray_defaults/defaults/main/main.yml
+++ b/roles/kubespray_defaults/defaults/main/main.yml
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ containerd_bin_dir: "{{ bin_dir }}"
 etcd_data_dir: /var/lib/etcd
 # Where the binaries will be downloaded.
 # Note: ensure that you've enough disk space (about 1G)
-local_release_dir: "/tmp/releases"
+local_release_dir: "{{ default_local_release_dir }}"
 # Random shifts for retrying failed ops like pushing/downloading
 retry_stagger: 5
 
diff --git a/roles/kubespray_defaults/vars/main/download.yml b/roles/kubespray_defaults/vars/main/download.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1484d39a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/kubespray_defaults/vars/main/download.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+---
+## Variables used by roles/download and task installing artefacts on node
+
+# Where ansible should look for artefacts when installing binaries / pre-loading container image
+# This is subtly different from local_release_dir, because it takes into
+# account `download_delegate`, and in particular the scenario where:
+# - hostvars['some_host']['download_delegate'] == 'other_host' or 'localhost' -> both scenario will result in the artefact transiting by localhost
+# - hostvars['localhost']['local_release_dir'] != hostvars['some_host']['local_release_dir']
+# We explicitly check hostvars
+install_source_dir: "{{
+  hostvars[
+  inventory_hostname if download_delegate == inventory_hostname
+  else 'localhost'
+  ]['local_release_dir'] | default(default_local_release_dir)
+}}"
+
+# This always refers to the value of `local_release_dir` for localhost
+# used by tasks which need to refer to paths on the controller, for instance, using lookup('file')
+install_source_localhost: "{{ hostvars['localhost']['local_release_dir'] | default(default_local_release_dir) }}"
+
+# This variable is the default for local_release_dir and is used to refer to
+# the default even when `local_release_dir` is overridden by inventory
+default_local_release_dir: /tmp/releases