I agree that abiogenesis probably required a long buildup to create the necessary conditions, but I think there's still a clear dividing line between that first self-replicator and whatever preceded it. I don't see how you could argue that the predecessors were capable of replication before that point - it's a logical contradiction.

FWIW, I think most people studying this topic suspect that something like RNA (not DNA) was actually the original self-replicator.