I feel like some of this is definitely cultural - where I grew up and went to school, I would've DEARLY loved to hear this advice:

a well rounded application is stronger than a straight H1 student who has never seen or done anything

It was always grades above all else because the system there rewarded that. Was a hard lesson in my own undergrad days and I'm lucky some place gave me a chance in my second year despite hardly any work experience prior. For all the (perhaps partially justified) accusations of mediocrity or lack of rigour in Australian academia, or anti-intellectualism in Australia more generally, I'm very very grateful for the relative sense of groundedness that's encouraged over here.