diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 0a87f5cd4..ef671e73f 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,10 +1,28 @@
-Synapse 1.54.0rc1 (2022-03-02)
-==============================
+Synapse 1.54.0 (2022-03-08)
+===========================
 
 Please note that this will be the last release of Synapse that is compatible with Mjolnir 1.3.1 and earlier.
 Administrators of servers which have the Mjolnir module installed are advised to upgrade Mjolnir to version 1.3.2 or later.
 
 
+Bugfixes
+--------
+
+- Fix a bug introduced in Synapse 1.54.0rc1 preventing the new module callbacks introduced in this release from being registered by modules. ([\#12141](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/12141))
+- Fix a bug introduced in Synapse 1.54.0rc1 where runtime dependency version checks would mistakenly check development dependencies if they were present and would not accept pre-release versions of dependencies. ([\#12129](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/12129), [\#12177](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/12177))
+
+
+Internal Changes
+----------------
+
+- Update release script to insert the previous version when writing "No significant changes" line in the changelog. ([\#12127](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/12127))
+- Relax the version guard for "packaging" added in [\#12088](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/12088). ([\#12166](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/12166))
+
+
+Synapse 1.54.0rc1 (2022-03-02)
+==============================
+
+
 Features
 --------
 
diff --git a/changelog.d/12127.misc b/changelog.d/12127.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index e42eca63a..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/12127.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Update release script to insert the previous version when writing "No significant changes" line in the changelog.
diff --git a/changelog.d/12129.misc b/changelog.d/12129.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index ce4213650..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/12129.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Inspect application dependencies using `importlib.metadata` or its backport.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/12141.bugfix b/changelog.d/12141.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 03a2507e2..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/12141.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix a bug introduced in Synapse 1.54.0rc1 preventing the new module callbacks introduced in this release from being registered by modules.
diff --git a/changelog.d/12166.misc b/changelog.d/12166.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 24b4a7c7d..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/12166.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Relax the version guard for "packaging" added in #12088.
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index df3db85b8..02136a0d6 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+matrix-synapse-py3 (1.54.0) stable; urgency=medium
+
+  * New synapse release 1.54.0.
+
+ -- Synapse Packaging team <packages@matrix.org>  Tue, 08 Mar 2022 10:54:52 +0000
+
 matrix-synapse-py3 (1.54.0~rc1) stable; urgency=medium
 
   * New synapse release 1.54.0~rc1.
diff --git a/synapse/__init__.py b/synapse/__init__.py
index 674acc713..4b0056597 100644
--- a/synapse/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/__init__.py
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     pass
 
-__version__ = "1.54.0rc1"
+__version__ = "1.54.0"
 
 if bool(os.environ.get("SYNAPSE_TEST_PATCH_LOG_CONTEXTS", False)):
     # We import here so that we don't have to install a bunch of deps when
diff --git a/synapse/util/check_dependencies.py b/synapse/util/check_dependencies.py
index 39b0a91db..12cd80493 100644
--- a/synapse/util/check_dependencies.py
+++ b/synapse/util/check_dependencies.py
@@ -163,7 +163,8 @@ def check_requirements(extra: Optional[str] = None) -> None:
                 deps_unfulfilled.append(requirement.name)
                 errors.append(_not_installed(requirement, extra))
         else:
-            if not requirement.specifier.contains(dist.version):
+            # We specify prereleases=True to allow prereleases such as RCs.
+            if not requirement.specifier.contains(dist.version, prereleases=True):
                 deps_unfulfilled.append(requirement.name)
                 errors.append(_incorrect_version(requirement, dist.version, extra))
 
diff --git a/tests/util/test_check_dependencies.py b/tests/util/test_check_dependencies.py
index a91c33272..38e9f58ac 100644
--- a/tests/util/test_check_dependencies.py
+++ b/tests/util/test_check_dependencies.py
@@ -27,7 +27,9 @@ class DummyDistribution(metadata.Distribution):
 
 
 old = DummyDistribution("0.1.2")
+old_release_candidate = DummyDistribution("0.1.2rc3")
 new = DummyDistribution("1.2.3")
+new_release_candidate = DummyDistribution("1.2.3rc4")
 
 # could probably use stdlib TestCase --- no need for twisted here
 
@@ -110,3 +112,20 @@ class TestDependencyChecker(TestCase):
             with self.mock_installed_package(new):
                 # should not raise
                 check_requirements("cool-extra")
+
+    def test_release_candidates_satisfy_dependency(self) -> None:
+        """
+        Tests that release candidates count as far as satisfying a dependency
+        is concerned.
+        (Regression test, see #12176.)
+        """
+        with patch(
+            "synapse.util.check_dependencies.metadata.requires",
+            return_value=["dummypkg >= 1"],
+        ):
+            with self.mock_installed_package(old_release_candidate):
+                self.assertRaises(DependencyException, check_requirements)
+
+            with self.mock_installed_package(new_release_candidate):
+                # should not raise
+                check_requirements()