I think it works like this:
All changes regarding this 1.1.8 branch start at:
After internal testing a package is made which is then available in stangri's repo and which you can use to upgrade if you set stangri's repo as update source in your routers feeds, see the How to Use section in the PBR guide
Usually within days after commits are made the new build is available in stangri's repo for you to upgrade.
At this moment 1.1.8-r10 is available for you to test
After more testing and after feedback from users a build which is deemed good enough is added to the official OpenWRT master repo
See the Makefile for the version.
Master and 24.10 are on 1.1.8-r6.
23.05 is on 1.1.6-r22
Usually only Master is updated, sometimes a backport is done in case of serious bugs.
But as described above you can add stangr's repo in your feeds and update from his own repo.