Getting "template not found" errors for gh pr create --template=...

Describe the bug

Running through the gh pr create interactive steps picks up template in .github/pull_request_template.md, however if I supply a --template option in gh pr create --template=/path/to/template then I get template "/path/to/template" not found. I've tried both relative and absolute paths and can't get either of them to pick up the template file successfully.

gh version 2.49.2 (2024-05-13)
https://github.com/cli/cli/releases/tag/v2.49.2

Steps to reproduce the behavior

  1. Have a template located at /path/to/template.md
  2. Run gh pr create --template /path/to/template.md
  3. See the error

Expected vs actual behavior

Expect to have the template injected into my editor for interactive editing. Actually just get an error