Autocomplete: ngModel value changes to null before selecting when forceSelection is true

[OmkarJ13]

Describe the bug

When [forceSelection] is enabled on the autocomplete component, when selecting a value the model changes to null for a split second before changing to the selected value. This leads to some weird bugs if the DOM is updated depending upon the autocomplete value.

Environment

Stackblitz

Reproducer

https://stackblitz.com/edit/xckznk?file=src%2Fapp%2Fautocomplete-force-selection-demo.html,src%2Fapp%2Fautocomplete-force-selection-demo.ts,src%2Findex.html

Angular version

18.0.1

PrimeNG version

17.18.1

Build / Runtime

Angular CLI App

Language

TypeScript

Node version (for AoT issues node --version)

v18.20.3

Browser(s)

No response

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. Go to the stack blitz
2. Click on the autocomplete and select "Country 1"
3. You should see a paragraph come up above the autocomplete.
4. Now edit the autocomplete value to remove the "1" and try to click on "Country 2". It will not work because the value got changed to null on blur and DOM updated accordingly, but the actual click did not happen on the dropdown due to a change in its position.

Expected behavior

The component should not set the model value to null before selecting a value when forceSelection is true.

If I use OnSelect event, I don't get the null which is expected. when using ngModel or reactive forms the similar behaviour should be there.