When clearing the playlist/deleting the last item of the playlist the playback of the current track stops immediately.

I would expect the current track to be played until it ends. For one every player I've used by now shows this behavior. 

Further I've been often been in the situation where I sit together with friends listening music and someone says "Let's listen something completely different!". The way I do it is to clear the playlist, and then add other stuff. That's where the great awkward silence breaks in, destroying the vibes ;-). 

Sure I could work around it, by first adding new stuff and then delete the old items, but this is no option when the old playlist is long and/or the tracks are randomly picked.