Keep page published or unpublish?

Question

Such a simple question I'm sure, but I can't find anything anywhere on this. I ran lots of tests - if the page is deleted the redirect doesn't work, but whether I unnpublish or keep the page published the redirects work ok. (For the main URL, the node and any alias) Not sure whether this is expected behaviour, or maybe a cacheing issue....?

So I guess my question is - which is best practice/likely to cause less issues in the future?

Redirect module 7.x-1.0-rc1

Test steps taken

Create page and alias

1. create page /test-page
2. URL path settings > uncheck auto alias and add alias /test-redirect
3. view page > URL shows /test-redirect
4. /test-page > redirects to /test-redirect
5. /admin/config/search/redirect > shows redirect from /test-page to node/56042
6. /admin/config/search/path > shows alias: /test-redirect, system: node/56042

Create redirect

1. create redirect from /test-redirect to /proper-page
2. /test-redirect > redirects to /proper-page
3. /test-page > redirects to /proper-page

Unpublish node

1. /test-page > redirects to /proper-page
2. /test-redirect > redirects to /proper-page
3. /admin/config/search/redirect > shows redirect from /test-page to node/56042
4. /admin/config/search/path > shows alias: /test-redirect, system: node/56042

Delete node

1. /node/56042 > 'Page not found'
2. /test-page > 'Page not found'
3. /test-redirect > 'Page not found'
4. /admin/config/search/redirect > no redirect exists from /test-page to node/56042
5. /admin/config/search/path > no alias: /test-redirect, system: node/56042