Adding AAR with flatDirs repository is not working anymore

Please note, this is not a duplicate of this question from 10 years ago: Adding local .aar files to Gradle build using "flatDirs" is not working, because this once used to work, with the notice to avoid flatDirs. I've faced this issue when migrating to AGP 8.5.1, with Gradle 8.9 - and now the previous approach apparently became obsolete. Therefore meanwhile the question is:

How to add *.aar to an Android project without the flatDirs repository?

This is how to add *.aar files from the module's libs directory into the module's class-path:

// define Task dependency
tasks.named("preBuild") {
    dependsOn("extractAarLibraries")
}

tasks.register('extractAarLibraries') {
    outputs.upToDateWhen {
        // Report UP-TO-DATE, when there is a JAR for every AAR.
        project.fileTree('libs').filter { it.name.endsWith('.aar') }.each { aar ->
            if (! project.file("libs/${aar.name.replace('.aar', '.jar')}").exists()) {
                return false
            }
        }
        return true
    }
    doFirst {
        project
            .fileTree('libs')
            .filter { it.name.endsWith('.aar') }
            .each { aar ->

                String libName = aar.name.replace('.aar', '')
                String jarName = "${libName}.jar"

                // When the JAR file does not exist in the destination.
                if (! project.file("libs/${jarName}").exists()) {

                    // Extract AAR to temporary directory.
                    File outputDir = project.file("build/tmp/aarsToJars/${libName}/")
                    copy {
                        from zipTree(aar)
                        into outputDir
                        include '**/classes.jar'
                        eachFile {
                            if (it.getRelativePath().getFile(project.file(outputDir.path)).exists()) {
                                println "> ${outputDir}${File.separator}${it.path} exists."
                                it.exclude()
                            }
                        }
                    }

                    // Copy JAR into directory `libs`.
                    copy {
                        from outputDir
                        include '**/classes.jar'
                        into project.file('libs')
                        rename ('classes.jar', jarName)
                    }
                }
            }
    }
    doLast {
        // Optional: delete the temporary directory.
        // Please review what is being extracted first.
        if (project.file('build/tmp/aarsToJars').exists()) {
            delete project.fileTree('build/tmp/aarsToJars')
        }
    }
}

Interface FlatDirectoryArtifactRepository even still exists.

Another option might be ExtractAarTransform.