diff --git a/test/actions.github.com/helper.sh b/test/actions.github.com/helper.sh
index 2e8845ce..582f3e88 100644
--- a/test/actions.github.com/helper.sh
+++ b/test/actions.github.com/helper.sh
@@ -10,6 +10,26 @@ export TARGET_ORG="${TARGET_ORG:-actions-runner-controller}"
 export TARGET_REPO="${TARGET_REPO:-arc_e2e_test_dummy}"
 export IMAGE_NAME="${IMAGE_NAME:-arc-test-image}"
 
+# Trims a single pair of matching surrounding quotes from the provided string.
+# Examples:
+#   trim_quotes '"1.2.3"' -> 1.2.3
+#   trim_quotes "'v1'"   -> v1
+function trim_quotes() {
+    local s
+    s="$*"
+
+    if [[ ${#s} -ge 2 ]]; then
+        local first last
+        first="${s:0:1}"
+        last="${s: -1}"
+        if [[ ( "${first}" == '"' && "${last}" == '"' ) || ( "${first}" == "'" && "${last}" == "'" ) ]]; then
+            s="${s:1:${#s}-2}"
+        fi
+    fi
+
+    printf '%s\n' "${s}"
+}
+
 # Tests decide which chart version to use. Helper provides extraction utilities.
 function chart_version() {
     local chart_yaml="$1"
@@ -19,38 +39,21 @@ function chart_version() {
     fi
 
     local version
-
-    if command -v yq >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-        # Support both common yq variants:
-        # - mikefarah/yq: yq -r '.version' file
-        # - kislyuk/yq:  yq '.version' < file
-        if version="$(yq -r '.version' "${chart_yaml}" 2>/dev/null)"; then
-            :
-        else
-            version="$(yq '.version' <"${chart_yaml}" 2>/dev/null)" || return 1
-        fi
-
-        version="$(printf '%s' "${version}" | tr -d "\"'[:space:]")"
-        if [[ -z "${version}" ]]; then
-            echo "Failed to extract version from ${chart_yaml} via yq" >&2
-            return 1
-        fi
-        printf '%s\n' "${version}"
-        return 0
+    if version="$(yq -r '.version' "${chart_yaml}" 2>/dev/null)"; then
+        :
+    else
+        version="$(yq '.version' <"${chart_yaml}" 2>/dev/null)" || return 1
     fi
 
-    version="$(awk -F: '$1 ~ /^version$/ { v=$2; gsub(/[[:space:]\"\x27]/, "", v); print v; exit }' "${chart_yaml}")"
     version="$(printf '%s' "${version}" | tr -d "\"'[:space:]")"
     if [[ -z "${version}" ]]; then
-        echo "Failed to extract version from ${chart_yaml}" >&2
+        echo "Failed to extract version from ${chart_yaml} via yq" >&2
         return 1
     fi
     printf '%s\n' "${version}"
+    return 0
 }
 
-# Backwards-compatible alias (kept so older local branches still work).
-function extract_chart_version() { chart_version "$@"; }
-
 function ensure_version_set() {
     if [[ -z "${VERSION:-}" ]]; then
         echo "VERSION is not set. Set it in the test, e.g. export VERSION=\"$(chart_version path/to/Chart.yaml)\"." >&2