What does 'updates pending' in Google Developer Console means

UPDATE FEBRUARY 2021

Currently, average waiting times are:

• New Apps, new developers, 1 to 7 days.
• New Apps, seasoned developers, 1 to 4 days.
• Updates, 24h to 36h, sometimes less.

This is purely based on my experienced and colleagues’ feedback, there’s no inside information, Google has none to my knowledge.

The "whys" about why this process is so slow and how Google review goes: https://www.jazzcoding.com/google-play-app-review-times/

Why it says "Update pending" is because it takes Google Play some time to publish your changes all over Google Play since it's a big network. It usually takes 1-2 hours before the changes is visible.

Update 8 April

The time for updates might now take more time since Google is now reviewing the apps that are submitted.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/03/17/google-follows-apples-lead-introduces-human-app-review-team-for-the-play-store