Android ViewBinding unable to render LinearLayout configuration

The ViewBinding implementation is unable to render the layout configuration for LinearLayout used in my code, while the same layout works with the older technique of findViewById()

I have setup the gradle to use ViewBinding

android {
    ...
    buildFeatures {
        viewBinding = true
}

Below is the activity which uses a LinearLayout

activity_main.xml

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_gravity="center_vertical"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

  <ImageView
        ... />

  <Button
        ... />

</LinearLayout>

The corresponding Kotlin class includes the binding instance with its root view passed to setContentView()

MainActivity.kt

private lateinit var binding: ActivityMainBinding

override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
    binding = ActivityMainBinding.inflate(layoutInflater)
    ...

    setContentView(binding.root)
}

While the Layout editor renders a correct alignment of the app, once it is launched onto the emulator the layout configuration such as center_vertical alignment set using layout_gravity of LinearLayout is ignored.

Is something incorrect or missing the way ViewBinding is implemented?