That's my understanding of it as well. The metabolisation process results in a lot of sloughing off of detritus and other crap. That's why you swish the container and change out the water every so often.
With the algae gone and the trapped detritus released, there's actually a far better environment and far more surface area for nitrifying bacteria to colonize. The bacteria you have doesn't die because it doesn't need light and the rock is continuously immersed in heated water with aerated with a powerhead.
The process is not designed for "new" live rock, but rock that's been in a tank for a while slowly collecting detritus and building up algae.
It's amazing how much crap is trap in your live rock. I did it myself over several months and each week the entire bottom of the container was filled with junk.
You cannot do the same with pressure washing because that doesn't get to the crap stuck deep inside the live rock and no nitrates/phosphates are metabolised. As well, you're killing the existing nitrifying bacteria by blasting the rock with fresh water.
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