Augustus never referred to himself, nor allowed anyone else to refer to him,as ‘Emperor’. He called himself ‘Princeps’.
Augustus was an absolute monarch but wanted to disguise his power, so he used the term Princeps to give the idea he was merely the First Citizen.
Many Romans had held the dictatorship in earlier times, with a 6-month maximum. After Fabius was dictator in 217 B.C. the office fell out of use until Sulla had himself made dictator (without a time limit), and then Caesar had himself made dictator repeatedly, then "dictator for life." After his assassination the office of dictator was permanently abolished.
So, he would not have been the first emperor.