diff --git a/autotest/ogr/data/gmlas/coordinates_with_leading_space.gml b/autotest/ogr/data/gmlas/coordinates_with_leading_space.gml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4c96055a5f30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/autotest/ogr/data/gmlas/coordinates_with_leading_space.gml
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
+<ogr:FeatureCollection
+     xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+     xsi:schemaLocation="http://ogr.maptools.org/ coordinates_with_leading_space.xsd"
+     xmlns:ogr="http://ogr.maptools.org/"
+     xmlns:gml="http://fake_gml32">
+  <ogr:featureMember>
+    <ogr:AffleurantEnveloppePCRS gml:id="AffleurantEnveloppePCRS.0">
+      <ogr:geometrie><gml:Polygon><gml:outerBoundaryIs><gml:LinearRing>
+            <gml:coordinates>
+                1372074.8935456767,6205942.497461504,40.425811736193694
+                1372074.5535202357,6205942.435638697,40.425811736193694
+                1372074.5071531301,6205942.690657778,40.425811736193694
+                1372074.8471785712,6205942.752480585,40.425811736193694
+                1372074.8935456767,6205942.497461504,40.425811736193694
+          </gml:coordinates>
+      </gml:LinearRing></gml:outerBoundaryIs></gml:Polygon></ogr:geometrie>
+    </ogr:AffleurantEnveloppePCRS>
+  </ogr:featureMember>
+</ogr:FeatureCollection>
diff --git a/autotest/ogr/data/gmlas/coordinates_with_leading_space.xsd b/autotest/ogr/data/gmlas/coordinates_with_leading_space.xsd
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..26291c7d1fcc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/autotest/ogr/data/gmlas/coordinates_with_leading_space.xsd
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<xs:schema targetNamespace="http://ogr.maptools.org/" xmlns:ogr="http://ogr.maptools.org/" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:gml="http://fake_gml32" elementFormDefault="qualified" version="1.0">
+
+<xs:import namespace="http://fake_gml32" schemaLocation="gmlas_fake_gml32.xsd"/>
+
+<xs:element name="FeatureCollection" type="ogr:FeatureCollectionType" substitutionGroup="gml:AbstractFeature"/>
+<xs:complexType name="FeatureCollectionType">
+  <xs:complexContent>
+    <xs:extension base="gml:AbstractFeatureType">
+      <xs:sequence minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
+        <xs:element name="featureMember">
+          <xs:complexType>
+            <xs:complexContent>
+              <xs:extension base="gml:AbstractFeatureMemberType">
+                <xs:sequence>
+                  <xs:element ref="gml:AbstractFeature"/>
+                </xs:sequence>
+              </xs:extension>
+            </xs:complexContent>
+          </xs:complexType>
+        </xs:element>
+      </xs:sequence>
+    </xs:extension>
+  </xs:complexContent>
+</xs:complexType>
+<xs:element name="AffleurantEnveloppePCRS" type="ogr:AffleurantEnveloppePCRS_Type" substitutionGroup="gml:AbstractFeature"/>
+<xs:complexType name="AffleurantEnveloppePCRS_Type">
+  <xs:complexContent>
+    <xs:extension base="gml:AbstractFeatureType">
+      <xs:sequence>
+        <xs:element name="geometrie" type="gml:SurfacePropertyType" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/> <!-- restricted to Polygon -->
+      </xs:sequence>
+    </xs:extension>
+  </xs:complexContent>
+</xs:complexType>
+</xs:schema>
diff --git a/autotest/ogr/ogr_gmlas.py b/autotest/ogr/ogr_gmlas.py
index 3f120d0b1fd9..721c53cf743a 100755
--- a/autotest/ogr/ogr_gmlas.py
+++ b/autotest/ogr/ogr_gmlas.py
@@ -2536,6 +2536,18 @@ def test_ogr_gmlas_geometry_as_substitutiongroup():
     ds = None
 
 ###############################################################################
+# Test importing a GML geometry whose coordinates elements has leading spaces
+
+
+def test_ogr_gmlas_coordinates_with_leading_space():
+
+    ds = gdal.OpenEx('GMLAS:data/gmlas/coordinates_with_leading_space.gml')
+    lyr = ds.GetLayer(0)
+    f = lyr.GetNextFeature()
+    assert f.GetGeometryRef().ExportToIsoWkt() == "POLYGON Z ((1372074.89354568 6205942.4974615 40.4258117361937,1372074.55352024 6205942.4356387 40.4258117361937,1372074.50715313 6205942.69065778 40.4258117361937,1372074.84717857 6205942.75248059 40.4258117361937,1372074.89354568 6205942.4974615 40.4258117361937))"
+    ds = None
+
+###############################################################################
 
 
 @pytest.mark.require_run_on_demand
diff --git a/ogr/gml2ogrgeometry.cpp b/ogr/gml2ogrgeometry.cpp
index 89d2328d2ff8..5eaa0607c7a4 100644
--- a/ogr/gml2ogrgeometry.cpp
+++ b/ogr/gml2ogrgeometry.cpp
@@ -328,6 +328,13 @@ static bool ParseGMLCoordinates( const CPLXMLNode *psGeomNode,
             return true;
         }
 
+        // Skip leading whitespace. See https://github.com/OSGeo/gdal/issues/5494
+        while( *pszCoordString != '\0' &&
+               isspace(static_cast<unsigned char>(*pszCoordString)) )
+        {
+            pszCoordString++;
+        }
+
         int iCoord = 0;
         const OGRwkbGeometryType eType = wkbFlatten(poGeometry->getGeometryType());
         OGRSimpleCurve *poCurve =