Git clone "checking connectivity" - what is it?

When doing a git clone of a repo over SSH or HTTP, you get output that looks something like this:

Cloning into 'some_directory'...
remote: Counting objects: 7, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (5/5), done.
remote: Total 7 (delta 0), reused 5 (delta 0), pack-reused 0
Unpacking objects: 100% (7/7), done.
Checking connectivity... done.

I'm interested in that last "Checking connectivity" step. It happens after the repo and all of its metadata has been downloaded, i.e. well after any inteet connectivity has finished.

What exactly is this step of the process accomplishing?

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