The unitary group of a $\mathrm{II}_1$ factor is SOT-contractible

We show that the unitary group of any SOT-separable $\mathrm{II}_1$ factor $M$, with the strong operator topology, is contractible. Combined with several old results, this implies that the same is true for any SOT-separable von Neumann algebra with no type $\mathrm{I}_n$ direct summands ($n < \infty$). The proof for the $\mathrm{II}_1$-factor case uses regularization via free convolution and Popa's theorem on the existence of approximately free Haar unitaries in $\mathrm{II}_1$ factors.