Jimny vs. Defender Off road - which is best?

I was rooting for the Jimny to win, but it wasn't to be.

That's a good comparison. Clearly the Landrover wins in terms of articulation and clearance, but it also required several attempts and much revving to get through a cross axle section that the Jimny simply drove through. Add traction control to the Landrover, remove the Jimny anti roll bar and fit slightly taller tyres and they would be very very close.
Stalling and low speed control have always been a week spot in Jimnys, but it's something you adapt to eventually! Low range gives less reduction than a Defender, which Suzuki have done deliberately to reduce stress on the driveline so they can keep everything lightweight.
I find mine much nicer to drive off-road (and on road) than our Defender. The smaller size and greater manoeuvrability come in especially handy.

And if you are lucky enough to have an automatic gearbox in your Jimny then you can do the creeping about slowly bit way better.

Very true! I have an old automatic Jimny here. It's being broken for parts now but when it worked it was very easy to use around the yard, moving trailers and towing my gang mowers. I couldn't live with it on the road though.

Leviathan, my Prado is manual only because they didn't offer the hard tops in auto at the time, being a big diesel does compensate a little bit but it is too easy to be in the wrong gear and the selector is not exactly rifle like. In the future I would consider swapping to an automatic version. Manual is for racecar use these days.