diff --git a/Refit.Benchmarks/Refit.Benchmarks.csproj b/Refit.Benchmarks/Refit.Benchmarks.csproj
index a02d65e65..884a15d19 100644
--- a/Refit.Benchmarks/Refit.Benchmarks.csproj
+++ b/Refit.Benchmarks/Refit.Benchmarks.csproj
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   
     <PropertyGroup>
       <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
-      <TargetFrameworks>net8.0</TargetFrameworks>
+      <TargetFrameworks>net8.0;net9.0</TargetFrameworks>
       <IsPackable>false</IsPackable>
       <NoWarn>$(NoWarn);CS1591</NoWarn>
     </PropertyGroup>
diff --git a/Refit/ApiResponse.cs b/Refit/ApiResponse.cs
index 86b485df1..deb0b41bd 100644
--- a/Refit/ApiResponse.cs
+++ b/Refit/ApiResponse.cs
@@ -10,20 +10,12 @@ static class ApiResponse
         internal static T Create<T, TBody>(
             HttpRequestMessage request,
             HttpResponseMessage? resp,
-            object? content,
+            TBody? content,
             RefitSettings settings,
             ApiExceptionBase? error = null
         )
         {
-            return (T)
-                Activator.CreateInstance(
-                    typeof(ApiResponse<TBody>),
-                    request,
-                    resp,
-                    content,
-                    settings,
-                    error
-                )!;
+            return (T)(object)new ApiResponse<TBody>(request, resp, content, settings, error);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/Refit/RequestBuilderImplementation.cs b/Refit/RequestBuilderImplementation.cs
index 2877f07cb..042ddfae6 100644
--- a/Refit/RequestBuilderImplementation.cs
+++ b/Refit/RequestBuilderImplementation.cs
@@ -407,7 +407,7 @@ object itemValue
                         return ApiResponse.Create<T, TBody>(
                             rq,
                             resp,
-                            null,
+                            default,
                             settings,
                             new ApiRequestException(rq, rq.Method, settings, ex)
                         );