I suppose it depends on the course they set. The Tassie round was run on trails that we have had Tas Gravity Enduro series race stages on, and varied from gravel roads to green and blue single track and even a blue/black trail. This may vary due to the location, but I know that their course planner wanted some proper chunk in the course.
No having done any XC on the mainland, it's hard for me to compare but would be as much less of a roadie gravel fest that some of the races I have seen like Port to Port. A short travel trail bike would have been the ideal bike unless you were chasing the big boys up the front.
I raced it on my Levo SL and had a ball and if I have the right bike, I'd do it on a normal bike.