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So, after many months, and a lot of stress, I can announce that I have had somewhat of a pyrrhic victory in this matter, and had the costs refunded back to the strata management from the law firm engaged to recover the debt (effectively eliminating my outstanding levies)
The issue that still stands is that SSMA s80 is a cash cow for debt collectors: There is no incentive by the client (strata management) to AVOID excess costs, whilst there is an incentive for law firms to incur costs, and a disincentive for a lot owner to dispute them.
I am quite lucky, and this may be an exceptional case, but it was the result of reasoning and deduction on the internal processes and workflows conducted by the debt collection agency / law firm that, after investigation by the appropriate investigation body, turned out to be accurate.
What does frustrate me is the apparently unwillingness of the strata manager to even help or provide information that may have been favourable to me, beyond the absolute minimum, or to even pursue the questions on my behalf.
Fortunately, there are ways to allow an owner who is in arrears to challenge s.80 costs, without the fear that the penalty for doing could outweigh the amount in dispute.