Local deployment directly of a function app using vscode succeeds and the function app works, however when trying to build and deploy through Azure Devops, the deployment succeeds but there is an error when importing numpy.

Result: Failure Exception: ImportError: Unable to import required dependencies: numpy: IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ THIS FOR ADVICE ON HOW TO SOLVE THIS ISSUE! Importing the numpy C-extensions failed. This error can happen for many reasons, often due to issues with your setup or how NumPy was installed. We have compiled some common reasons and troubleshooting tips at: https://numpy.org/devdocs/user/troubleshooting-importerror.html Please note and check the following: * The Python version is: Python3.10 from "/usr/local/bin/python" * The NumPy version is: "1.25.0" and make sure that they are the versions you expect. Please carefully study the documentation linked above for further help. Original error was: No module named  numpy.core._multiarray_umath  . Please check the requirements.txt file for the missing module. For more info, please refer the troubleshooting guide: https://aka.ms/functions-modulenotfound

azure-pipelines.yml is very similar to examples, install dependencies and zip:

variables:
  # Azure Resource Manager connection created during pipeline creation
  azureSubscription:  azureSubscription 

  # Agent VM image name
  vmImageName:  ubuntu-20.04 

  # Working Directory
  workingDirectory:  $(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)/ 
stages:
- stage: Build
  displayName: Build stage

  jobs:
  - job: Build
    displayName: Build
    pool:
      vmImage: $(vmImageName)

    steps:
    - bash: |
        if [ -f extensions.csproj ]
        then
            dotnet build extensions.csproj --runtime ubuntu.16.04-x64 --output ./bin
        fi
      workingDirectory: $(workingDirectory)
      displayName:  Build extensions 

    - task: UsePythonVersion@0
      inputs:
        versionSpec:  3.x  # string. Required. Version spec. Default: 3.x.
        architecture:  x64  #  x86  |  x64 . Required. Architecture. Default: x64.

    - bash: |
        pip install --target="./.python_packages/lib/site-packages" -r ./requirements.txt
      workingDirectory: $(workingDirectory)
      displayName:  Install application dependencies 

    - task: ArchiveFiles@2
      displayName:  Archive files 
      inputs:
        rootFolderOrFile:  $(workingDirectory) 
        includeRootFolder: false
        archiveType: zip
        archiveFile: $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/$(Build.BuildId).zip
        replaceExistingArchive: true

    - publish: $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/$(Build.BuildId).zip
      artifact: drop

    - task: AzureFunctionApp@2
      inputs:
        azureSubscription:  azureSubscription 
        appType:  functionAppLinux 
        appName:  app-name 
        package:  $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/$(Build.BuildId).zip 
        deploymentMethod:  auto 

The code is then deployed to the function:

steps:
- task: AzureFunctionApp@2
  displayName:  Azure Function App Deploy 
  inputs:
    azureSubscription:  azureSubscription 
    appType: functionAppLinux
    appName:  app-name 
    package:  $(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)/_Function App/drop/*zip 
    deploymentMethod: zipDeploy

Any help much appreciated, have spent hours looking at examples and reading through the documentation but still haven t got this working. Cheers.