I can only comment on (1). It really depends on the cultivar.
All my Peter's Honey did fine coming out of the bin, never had a single one wilt. They all have a 2 to 5 leaves when i took them out.
My LSU Tigers all had problems coming out of the bin. The first one stayed out 56 hours before it started showing signs of stess. Putting it back in the bin helped it. I had to take it in and out a few times to get it hardened. The other LSU tigers showed the same issues.
Both of my Texas blue Giants died while trying to harden them. One did okay for several days, so I potted it up, then it started wilting. Put the pot in the bin, but it never recovered. The other one died before I even got it out of the cup. (Well, I'm assuming there goners, but I'm still holding out a sliver of hope for them. I'm gonna pull them up and see if they still have any roots at all).
basically, if it has lots of good roots, you can start trying to harden it off. You can put it in a vented bin that has a lower humidity and keep lowering the humidity every few days (venting more). Or take it out one day and put it back a day.
I think one of my problems was too high humidity in my bin.. I think it actually started raining inside it.