What Does an Automatic Penalty Look Like?

I understand that a notification appears on GSC for a manual penalty but what does an automatic penalty look like? Is it arbitrary? Like you can be penalized and still be on the first page of a SERP but not in the top 5? Or would it be extremely obvious like you are knocked to page 8?

I've heard terms like "automated network flag penalty" and "algorithmic penalty" but I'm wondering who has insights as to what constitutes a "penalty" that is not manual.

You wouldn't be on the first page