Why go through all those lengths when you can simply disable automatic updates in the policy editor? Then you can apply them whenever it's convenient to you.
Updates are officially required. [2]
Each release makes it more difficult to positively force WU to fail with user-facing tools. So now, in 2022, after 13 major releases with different UIs, waasmedic logic, and policy effects, when I need to keep a computer online, I don't consider the options that I've found to have failed before (where failure is equal to rebooting). I kill the components of WU, repairs to WU, and repairs to the tools that repair WU.
As a result, or as a consequence, you decide, I usually don't get updates again for a long while.
[1] https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/30...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_10#Updates_and_support