Cooking/food hygiene question

[TwixTwixtwoo]

I'm doing meatballs (beef) for tea, will brown them first then chuck into pre-made sauce to simmer for about 20 mins. What I'm wanting to know is could I brown them and then leave them sitting (either in the sauce or separate, doesn't matter) for maybe a couple of hours before I switch them on to finish in the sauce? Or will I give us all food poisoning? Google is giving conflicting answers so thought I'd try for a general consensus on here

Personally I would cook them, cool them and then reheat them till piping hot.
I don't see why you can't brown them and finish them later, but I would think you have to cool them and refrigerate them in between steps as well.
Or maybe make the sauce and dinner time brown them and cook them in sauce.
I think whatever you choose the important thing is not leaving them warm /room temperature that is when bacteria can grow

Not ideal as the centre will be at a temp ideal for breeding bacteria so it is more risky than say cooking them fully to a high temp, and then reheating later.
I doubt you would get sick though if you reheated to a high temp before eating.