No, the cache is not visible before publication to anyone but you and a reviewer.
I suppose, the 8:01 and 23:01 is the same time just a different timezone (one of them in US, second in your timezone), because once the cache is published, many people just open the page or download the cache to figure out what is going on.
Please, clarify in what timezone you are, how the what was the timestamp you received the publication mail and how the times in audit look like (including potential time zone identification).