Autocomplete throws error in 2.0.0-beta.5

[jitsk]

Bug, feature request, or proposal:

Bug

What is the expected behavior?

User must be able to type in the input and based on input autocomplete must appear.

What is the current behavior?

When user clicks in the input field, error is thrown and UI halts, i.e md-autocomplete option is shown but on click nothing happens. The error in console is:
Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property '_elementRef' of null at material.es5.js:19969 at FilterSubscriber._next (filter.js:81) at FilterSubscriber.Subscriber.next (Subscriber.js:89) at HTMLDocument.handler (FromEventObservable.js:134) at ZoneDelegate.invokeTask (zone.js:414) at Zone.runTask (zone.js:181) at HTMLDocument.ZoneTask.invoke (zone.js:476)

What are the steps to reproduce?

Added an input field(not mdInput) and associated an autocomplete with it.

Which versions of Angular, Material, OS, TypeScript, browsers are affected?

Angular: 4.0.1
Angular material: 2.0.0-beta.5
Not working in any of the browsers Tested in Firefox, Chrome ,IE11.

Is there anything else we should know?

Was working fine in material 2.0.0-beta.2 . I decided to change because autocomplete was not working in IE11(Issue 4258).
The input field is in a MdDialog.

[willshowell]

Plunker? I suspect using mdInput is required, but not 100% on that

[crisbeto]

mdInput shouldn't be required @willshowell, but it looks like I missed a null check in #3188.

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