Just read in Haynes the pivot bolt and front retaining nut to be torqued up with wheels refitted and on the ground can't see any difference doing it on axle stands (held at normal road height) is this just a safety thing or am I missing something?

No the weight should be on the wheels, it’s so the link isn’t under tension when stationary
And only goes into tension when moving, if it was in tension all the time the bushes wouldn’t last long,