Selenium 3.9.0 & above gives error "Session [null] not available and is not among the last 1000 terminated sessions." on geckodriver

[seleniumfirefox]

Meta -

OS:
Windows 10

Selenium Version:
3.9.0 and above

Browser:
Firefox through GeckoDriver

Browser Version:
61 (64-bit)

GeckoDriver Version:
21

Expected Behavior -

selenium tests should run on latest firefox with GeckoDriver

Actual Behavior -

I am trying to run my selenium tests against firefox using its new geckodriver and here is the issues I am seeing

When I use selenium standalone version 3.9.0 and above with GeckoDriver version 21 and firefox version 61, I am getting the following error as soon as I launch the test
org.openqa.selenium.WebDriverException: Session [null] not available and is not among the last 1000 terminated sessions.
Active sessions are[ext. key ]
Command duration or timeout: 17 milliseconds
Build info: version: '2.53.1', revision: 'a36b8b1', time: '2016-06-30 17:32:46'
System info: host: , ip: '', os.name: 'Windows 10', os.arch: 'x86', os.version: '10.0', java.version: '1.8.0_131'
Driver info: org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver
Capabilities [{capabilities={moz:profile=, rotatable=false, timeouts={implicit=0, pageLoad=300000, script=30000}, pageLoadStrategy=normal, moz:headless=false, moz:accessibilityChecks=false, moz:useNonSpecCompliantPointerOrigin=false, webdriver.remote.sessionid=, acceptInsecureCerts=false, browserVersion=61.0.2, platformVersion=10.0, moz:processID=9608, browserName=firefox, platformName=windows_nt, moz:webdriverClick=true}, sessionId=***********, platform=ANY}]
Session ID: null
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Unknown Source)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.ErrorHandler.createThrowable(ErrorHandler.java:206)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.ErrorHandler.throwIfResponseFailed(ErrorHandler.java:158)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.execute(RemoteWebDriver.java:678)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver$RemoteWebDriverOptions$RemoteTimeouts.pageLoadTimeout(RemoteWebDriver.java:879)
at org.openqa.selenium.support.events.EventFiringWebDriver$EventFiringTimeouts.pageLoadTimeout(EventFiringWebDriver.java:573)
at templates.NewTestTemplate.startBrowser(NewTestTemplate.java:194)
at templates.NewTestTemplate.start(NewTestTemplate.java:156)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at org.testng.internal.MethodInvocationHelper.invokeMethod(MethodInvocationHelper.java:85)
at org.testng.internal.Invoker.invokeConfigurationMethod(Invoker.java:510)
at org.testng.internal.Invoker.invokeConfigurations(Invoker.java:211)
at org.testng.internal.Invoker.invokeMethod(Invoker.java:585)
at org.testng.internal.Invoker.invokeTestMethod(Invoker.java:816)
at org.testng.internal.Invoker.invokeTestMethods(Invoker.java:1124)
at org.testng.internal.TestMethodWorker.invokeTestMethods(TestMethodWorker.java:125)
at org.testng.internal.TestMethodWorker.run(TestMethodWorker.java:108)
at org.testng.TestRunner.privateRun(TestRunner.java:774)
at org.testng.TestRunner.run(TestRunner.java:624)
at org.testng.SuiteRunner.runTest(SuiteRunner.java:359)
at org.testng.SuiteRunner.runSequentially(SuiteRunner.java:354)
at org.testng.SuiteRunner.privateRun(SuiteRunner.java:312)
at org.testng.SuiteRunner.run(SuiteRunner.java:261)
at org.testng.SuiteRunnerWorker.runSuite(SuiteRunnerWorker.java:52)
at org.testng.SuiteRunnerWorker.run(SuiteRunnerWorker.java:86)
at org.testng.TestNG.runSuitesSequentially(TestNG.java:1215)
at org.testng.TestNG.runSuitesLocally(TestNG.java:1140)
at org.testng.TestNG.run(TestNG.java:1048)
at org.testng.remote.AbstractRemoteTestNG.run(AbstractRemoteTestNG.java:114)
at org.testng.remote.RemoteTestNG.initAndRun(RemoteTestNG.java:251)
at org.testng.remote.RemoteTestNG.main(RemoteTestNG.java:77)

The automated test continue when I use selenium 3.4.0 and above for same GeckoDriver and Firefox versions as above.
Also, the firefox session does open but selenium is unable to recognize it.

[diemol]

Hi @seleniumfirefox

It seems that you are using an old version of the client bindings (2.53.1)

Build info: version: '2.53.1', revision: 'a36b8b1', time: '2016-06-30 17:32:46'

Please upgrade to the same version as the Selenium Grid version you are using and report back.

[lmtierney]

Closing due to lack of response from issue creator