CoordinatorLayout with collapsing toolbar, NestedScrollView & RecyclerView has empty space on bottom (scrolls too far)

Question

As the title explains, I'm using a collapsing toolbar and a NestedScrollView with a RecyclerView inside it, and whenever I have 5 items in the RecyclerView or less, the empty space shows (e.g. if I have only 2 items, the space on the bottom will be huge, but if I have 6+ items there will be no empty space).

Here's the image and XML:

LayoutInspector and emulator showing the issue

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">

    <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
        android:id="@+id/appbar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:background="@color/backgroundColor"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content">

        <android.support.design.widget.CollapsingToolbarLayout
            android:id="@+id/episodeDetailsCollapsingToolbar"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            app:title="Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet"
            app:navigationIcon="@drawable/ic_arrow_back_black"
            app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll|exitUntilCollapsed" >

            <LinearLayout
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:orientation="vertical">

                <FrameLayout
                    android:layout_width="match_parent"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content">

                    <ImageView
                        android:layout_width="match_parent"
                        android:layout_height="300dp"
                        android:contentDescription="@string/episode_photo"
                        android:id="@+id/photoImageView"
                        android:src="@drawable/ic_image_60dp"
                        android:scaleType="centerCrop"/>

                    <View
                        android:layout_width="match_parent"
                        android:layout_height="40dp"
                        android:layout_gravity="top"
                        android:background="@drawable/fade_to_white_gradient_top"/>

                    <View
                        android:layout_width="match_parent"
                        android:layout_height="40dp"
                        android:layout_gravity="bottom"
                        android:background="@drawable/fade_to_white_gradient"/>
                </FrameLayout>

                <Space
                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_height="70dp"/>
            </LinearLayout>

            <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
                xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="?android:attr/actionBarSize"
                android:background="@android:color/transparent"
                android:theme="@style/ToolBarStyle"
                app:navigationIcon="@drawable/ic_arrow_back_black"
                app:layout_collapseMode="pin"
                android:id="@+id/episodeListToolbar" />
        </android.support.design.widget.CollapsingToolbarLayout>
    </android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

    <android.support.v4.widget.NestedScrollView
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:paddingBottom="0dp"
        android:layout_marginBottom="0dp"
        app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior">

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

            <TextView
                android:layout_marginTop="10dp"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:paddingStart="25dp"
                android:textColor="@color/colorPrimary"
                android:textSize="16sp"
                android:paddingBottom="5dp"
                android:text="@string/item_season_episode_placeholder"
                android:id="@+id/seasonEpisodeTextView"/>

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:text="@string/lorem_ipsum"
                android:paddingStart="25dp"
                android:paddingEnd="25dp"
                android:textSize="15sp"
                android:textColor="@color/textColor"
                android:id="@+id/descriptionTextView"/>

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:text="@string/comments"
                android:textSize="14sp"
                android:textColor="@color/textColor"
                android:padding="5dp"
                android:layout_margin="20dp"
                android:drawableStart="@drawable/ic_comments"
                android:drawablePadding="8dp"
                android:foreground="?selectableItemBackground"
                android:id="@+id/commentsButton"/>

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:text="@string/other_episodes"
                android:paddingStart="25dp"
                android:paddingEnd="15dp"
                android:textSize="20sp"
                android:textColor="@color/darkTextColor"
                android:textStyle="bold"/>

            <LinearLayout
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="match_parent"
                android:orientation="vertical"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:visibility="gone"
                android:id="@+id/emptyNextFiveLinearLayout">

                <ImageView
                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:src="@drawable/ic_empty_placeholder"
                    android:layout_marginBottom="10dp"
                    android:contentDescription="@string/empty_placeholder_image"/>

                <TextView
                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:textAlignment="center"
                    android:text="@string/empty_message"
                    android:textSize="15sp"/>

            </LinearLayout>

            <android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:paddingStart="5dp"
                android:paddingEnd="5dp"
                android:id="@+id/episodeDetailsRecyclerView"/>
        </LinearLayout>
    </android.support.v4.widget.NestedScrollView>
</android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

Solutions I've tried so far:

• Adding android:fitsSystemWindows="true" to CoordinatorLayout
• Adding android:fillViewport="true" to NestedScrollView
• Adding android:layout_gravity="fill_vertical" to NestedScrollView and RecyclerView
• Adding android:overScrollMode="never" to NestedScrollView

Answer 1

This is the expected behavior since the collapsing toolbar needs to entirely collapse wherever used, so it creates extra empty space at the bottom to do so.