The lever on rear brake will go back to its 'off' stop even if there is no cable attached to it, now following that train of thought if there is a cable attached with too much slack in it (because it has stretched due to the tension placed on it when handbrake is on, i.e. most of the time), when you pull the handbrake handle the system has to take up that slack before the lever on the brake begins to move, that is why number of clicks on handbrake is stated, because if you have too many clicks the handbrake can run out of teeth on the ratchet.
I have been fixing cars and motorbikes from about the age of 14, never managed to rear end another vehicle yet - practical experience, not theory or YouTube.