Prepare for the next release candidate
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 06298a7..a52fd2e 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -61,11 +61,11 @@
 
 + Create a _topic branch_ for your isolated work.
   * Usually you should base your branch from the `master` branch.
-  * A good topic branch name can be the JIRA bug ID plus a keyword, for example, `COLLECTIONS-123-InputStream`.
+  * A good topic branch name can be the JIRA bug ID plus a keyword, e.g. `COLLECTIONS-123-InputStream`.
   * If you have submitted multiple JIRA issues, try to maintain separate branches and pull requests.
 + Make commits of logical units.
   * Make sure your commit messages are meaningful and in the proper format. Your commit message should contain the key of the JIRA issue.
-  * For example, `[COLLECTIONS-123] Close input stream earlier`
+  * For example, `[COLLECTIONS-123] Close input stream sooner`
 + Respect the original code style:
   + Only use spaces for indentation; you can check for unnecessary whitespace with `git diff` before committing.
   + Create minimal diffs - disable _On Save_ actions like _Reformat Source Code_ or _Organize Imports_. If you feel the source code should be reformatted create a separate PR for this change first.
diff --git a/NOTICE.txt b/NOTICE.txt
index 79e9484..518b76e 100644
--- a/NOTICE.txt
+++ b/NOTICE.txt
@@ -3,7 +3,3 @@
 
 This product includes software developed at
 The Apache Software Foundation (https://www.apache.org/).
-
-The Java source file src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/map/ConcurrentReferenceHashMap.java
-is from https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast and the following notice applies:
-Copyright (c) 2008-2020, Hazelcast, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c18fe00..3275da4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
  (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
  the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
 
-      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 
  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
 
 [![Java CI](https://github.com/apache/commons-collections/actions/workflows/maven.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/apache/commons-collections/actions/workflows/maven.yml)
 [![Maven Central](https://img.shields.io/maven-central/v/org.apache.commons/commons-collections4?label=Maven%20Central)](https://search.maven.org/artifact/org.apache.commons/commons-collections4)
-[![Javadocs](https://javadoc.io/badge/org.apache.commons/commons-collections4/4.5.0-M3.svg)](https://javadoc.io/doc/org.apache.commons/commons-collections4/4.5.0-M3)
+[![Javadocs](https://javadoc.io/badge/org.apache.commons/commons-collections4/4.5.0.svg)](https://javadoc.io/doc/org.apache.commons/commons-collections4/4.5.0)
 [![CodeQL](https://github.com/apache/commons-collections/actions/workflows/codeql-analysis.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/apache/commons-collections/actions/workflows/codeql-analysis.yml)
 [![OpenSSF Scorecard](https://api.securityscorecards.dev/projects/github.com/apache/commons-collections/badge)](https://api.securityscorecards.dev/projects/github.com/apache/commons-collections)
 
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@
 <dependency>
   <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
   <artifactId>commons-collections4</artifactId>
-  <version>4.5.0-M3</version>
+  <version>4.5.0</version>
 </dependency>
 ```
 
diff --git a/RELEASE-NOTES.txt b/RELEASE-NOTES.txt
index 39592c2..d615e65 100644
--- a/RELEASE-NOTES.txt
+++ b/RELEASE-NOTES.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,47 @@
+Apache Commons Collections 4.5.0 Release Notes
+----------------------------------------------
+
+The Apache Commons Collections team is pleased to announce the release of Apache Commons Collections 4.5.0.
+
+The Apache Commons Collections package contains types that extend and augment the Java Collections Framework.
+
+This is a feature and maintenance release. Java 8 or later is required.
+
+Changes in this version
+-----------------------
+
+New features
+------------
+
+* Add IteratorUtils.toSet(Iterator). Thanks to Gary Gregory. 
+* Add IteratorUtils.toSet(Iterator, int). Thanks to Gary Gregory. 
+* Add EnumerationUtils.toSet(Enumeration). Thanks to Gary Gregory. 
+* COLLECTIONS-693:  Please add OWASP Dependency Check to the build. Thanks to Gary Gregory. 
+
+Fixed Bugs
+----------
+
+* Refactor AbstractPropertiesFactory.load(File) to use NIO. Thanks to Gary Gregory. 
+* Refactor AbstractPropertiesFactory.load(String) to use NIO. Thanks to Gary Gregory. 
+
+Changes
+-------
+
+* Bump commons-codec:commons-codec from 1.17.1 to 1.18.0 #591. Thanks to Gary Gregory. 
+* Bump org.apache.commons:commons-parent from 78 to 81 #2296. Thanks to Gary Gregory, Dependabot. 
+* Bump commons.jacoco.version from 0.8.13-SNAPSHOT to 0.13.0. Thanks to Gary Gregory. 
+* [test] Bump commons-io:commons-io from 2.18.0 to 2.19.0. Thanks to Gary Gregory. 
+
+ 
+For complete information on Apache Commons Collections, including instructions on how to submit bug reports,
+patches, or suggestions for improvement, see the Apache Commons Collections website:
+
+https://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-collections/
+
+Download page: https://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-collections/download_collections.cgi
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 Apache Commons Collections 4.5.0-M3 RELEASE NOTES
 -------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/src/changes/changes.xml b/src/changes/changes.xml
index c0483f2..2ad85c0 100644
--- a/src/changes/changes.xml
+++ b/src/changes/changes.xml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
     <title>Apache Commons Collections Release Notes</title>
   </properties>
   <body>
-  <release version="4.5.0-M4" date="YYYY-MM-DD" description="This is a feature and maintenance release. Java 8 or later is required.">
+  <release version="4.5.0" date="2025-04-19" description="This is a feature and maintenance release. Java 8 or later is required.">
     <!-- FIX -->
     <action type="fix" dev="ggregory" due-to="Gary Gregory">Refactor AbstractPropertiesFactory.load(File) to use NIO.</action>
     <action type="fix" dev="ggregory" due-to="Gary Gregory">Refactor AbstractPropertiesFactory.load(String) to use NIO.</action>
diff --git a/src/site/xdoc/download_collections.xml b/src/site/xdoc/download_collections.xml
index 7dbcfee..789da02 100644
--- a/src/site/xdoc/download_collections.xml
+++ b/src/site/xdoc/download_collections.xml
@@ -115,32 +115,32 @@
       </p>
     </subsection>
     </section>
-    <section name="Apache Commons Collections 4.5.0-M3 (Requires Java 8 or above)">
+    <section name="Apache Commons Collections 4.5.0 (Requires Java 8 or above)">
       <subsection name="Binaries">
         <table>
           <tr>
-              <td><a href="[preferred]/commons/collections/binaries/commons-collections4-4.5.0-M3-bin.tar.gz">commons-collections4-4.5.0-M3-bin.tar.gz</a></td>
-              <td><a href="https://downloads.apache.org/commons/collections/binaries/commons-collections4-4.5.0-M3-bin.tar.gz.sha512">sha512</a></td>
-              <td><a href="https://downloads.apache.org/commons/collections/binaries/commons-collections4-4.5.0-M3-bin.tar.gz.asc">pgp</a></td>
+              <td><a href="[preferred]/commons/collections/binaries/commons-collections4-4.5.0-bin.tar.gz">commons-collections4-4.5.0-bin.tar.gz</a></td>
+              <td><a href="https://downloads.apache.org/commons/collections/binaries/commons-collections4-4.5.0-bin.tar.gz.sha512">sha512</a></td>
+              <td><a href="https://downloads.apache.org/commons/collections/binaries/commons-collections4-4.5.0-bin.tar.gz.asc">pgp</a></td>
           </tr>
           <tr>
-              <td><a href="[preferred]/commons/collections/binaries/commons-collections4-4.5.0-M3-bin.zip">commons-collections4-4.5.0-M3-bin.zip</a></td>
-              <td><a href="https://downloads.apache.org/commons/collections/binaries/commons-collections4-4.5.0-M3-bin.zip.sha512">sha512</a></td>
-              <td><a href="https://downloads.apache.org/commons/collections/binaries/commons-collections4-4.5.0-M3-bin.zip.asc">pgp</a></td>
+              <td><a href="[preferred]/commons/collections/binaries/commons-collections4-4.5.0-bin.zip">commons-collections4-4.5.0-bin.zip</a></td>
+              <td><a href="https://downloads.apache.org/commons/collections/binaries/commons-collections4-4.5.0-bin.zip.sha512">sha512</a></td>
+              <td><a href="https://downloads.apache.org/commons/collections/binaries/commons-collections4-4.5.0-bin.zip.asc">pgp</a></td>
           </tr>
         </table>
       </subsection>
       <subsection name="Source">
         <table>
           <tr>
-              <td><a href="[preferred]/commons/collections/source/commons-collections4-4.5.0-M3-src.tar.gz">commons-collections4-4.5.0-M3-src.tar.gz</a></td>
-              <td><a href="https://downloads.apache.org/commons/collections/source/commons-collections4-4.5.0-M3-src.tar.gz.sha512">sha512</a></td>
-              <td><a href="https://downloads.apache.org/commons/collections/source/commons-collections4-4.5.0-M3-src.tar.gz.asc">pgp</a></td>
+              <td><a href="[preferred]/commons/collections/source/commons-collections4-4.5.0-src.tar.gz">commons-collections4-4.5.0-src.tar.gz</a></td>
+              <td><a href="https://downloads.apache.org/commons/collections/source/commons-collections4-4.5.0-src.tar.gz.sha512">sha512</a></td>
+              <td><a href="https://downloads.apache.org/commons/collections/source/commons-collections4-4.5.0-src.tar.gz.asc">pgp</a></td>
           </tr>
           <tr>
-              <td><a href="[preferred]/commons/collections/source/commons-collections4-4.5.0-M3-src.zip">commons-collections4-4.5.0-M3-src.zip</a></td>
-              <td><a href="https://downloads.apache.org/commons/collections/source/commons-collections4-4.5.0-M3-src.zip.sha512">sha512</a></td>
-              <td><a href="https://downloads.apache.org/commons/collections/source/commons-collections4-4.5.0-M3-src.zip.asc">pgp</a></td>
+              <td><a href="[preferred]/commons/collections/source/commons-collections4-4.5.0-src.zip">commons-collections4-4.5.0-src.zip</a></td>
+              <td><a href="https://downloads.apache.org/commons/collections/source/commons-collections4-4.5.0-src.zip.sha512">sha512</a></td>
+              <td><a href="https://downloads.apache.org/commons/collections/source/commons-collections4-4.5.0-src.zip.asc">pgp</a></td>
           </tr>
         </table>
       </subsection>