The effect of auxiliary relief holes on the stress redistribution in a thin plate with holes subjected to uniaxial tensile loading is investigated. A finite element model was implemented in ANSYS APDL for the plate with a central circular hole and other secondary-hole patterns. This included number of auxiliary holes, angular distributions and distances from the main hole. Results are checked from the perspective of maximum von Mises stress, principal stress, shear load, strain energy density, total deformation and stiffness/weight reduction/factor of safety/stress concentration factor. The global elastic response of the numerical model was validated using experimental tensile testing of the baseline specimen. The results demonstrate that local stress is either relieved or intensified depending on the arrangement of auxiliary holes. The stress concentration due to overlapping stress fields is more significant for the configurations with unfavourable angular spacing and ligament interaction (B24 and B34). However, model B42 showed the best combination between stress concentration, safety factor, stiffness retention and weight reduction with: Stress concentration factor = 4.304; Safety factor = 23.23. Though peak stress reduction was marginal, the optimal configuration moved peak stress significantly while introducing little to no loss in global stiffness.