Living shorelines are natural or hybrid structures that aim to provide resilience against coastal hazards. There is increasing interest in uptake of these alternative solutions over traditional hard engineered structures with benefits including adaptability in response to sea level rise, lower maintenance costs and habitat provision. For hybrid living shorelines characterized by mangroves, engineered structures have been used to mimic emergent traits such as wave attenuation and sediment stabilization, enhancing restoration success. In NSW, mimicking emergent traits implicitly with artificial structures such as rock or timber fillets has been used for mangrove establishment and bank stabilization, however, there is a lack of understanding of the processes that underpin these structures. Our systematic review and morphological analysis investigated solutions that address the key functions of structures to support mangrove establishment and persistence. This analysis was applied to a regional case study (New South Wales estuaries) that found the distribution of hybrid mangrove living shorelines did not highlight unique hydrodynamic conditions for different design interventions. Wave attenuation across different structures (high rock fillets, low rock fillets, timber fillets, and oyster fillets) was measured at sites within two NSW estuaries to determine the optimal design of structures that enable ecological and engineering benefits.