Mbt and knock listening device

Talking about na engine, but would also like an answer for a fi engine too.

As a rule of thumb, will torque always peak and plateau before you enter knock area?

Can a na engine be tuned steady state to get mbt, and optimize the full load cells without using knock listening detection?

No. I have listened to many NA engines start to knock on the Dyno before MBT. I've seen engines that are audibly knocking make MORE power on the Dyno. In my opinion the Dyno alone is not a reliable knock detection device.