How did you start the engine? Just by pressing down the gas pedal enough and having it in another mode? I know obd can log but are you sure it will trigger a hard fault for no cat? I'm very familiar with obd and passing smog, for many years I had a Mitsubishi eclipse turbo that was heavily modded and I was able to get passed smog even if what you say about the hard faults is true without a week of driving.
From what I have read permanent DTC's were introduced in 2010. Prior to that it was apparently possible in many cases to clear codes prior to going in for an emissions test.
Easiest way to force the engine to come on is if your battery is less than half full you can simply turn on HV Charge and ICE should start right up.
If your battery is more than half full, like mine was when I went in for my smog check, then there is the standard Toyota/Honda method to put their hybrids into maintenance mode which starts the engine.
Maintenance Mode
Once started the following steps must all be performed within sixty seconds. The first time you try it, since you likely will be reading while you are doing it you may exceed sixty seconds and it won't work. If that happens then just try it again.
1) Make sure the car is completely off.
2) Press the power button without stepping on the brake pedal.
3) Press the power button again without stepping on the brake pedal so that the instrument panel display comes on.
4) Press the accelerator pedal to the floor twice.
5) Press the brake pedal and shift to N, then release the brake pedal.
6) Press the accelerator pedal to the floor twice.
Note - during this accelerator press it will beep and a message will appear:
"Gear Position is N, Release Accelerator Pedal". You can ignore this message.
7) Press the brake pedal and shift to P, then release the brake pedal.
8) Press the accelerator pedal to the floor twice. "Maintenance Mode" appears on the display.
9) Press the brake pedal and press the power button. The engine will start after a few seconds.
Do not drive while in maintenance mode. When you are done with maintenance mode, press the power button to turn the car off. After turning off the car you can then turn it on again normally.