diff --git a/swh/loader/svn/svn.py b/swh/loader/svn/svn.py
--- a/swh/loader/svn/svn.py
+++ b/swh/loader/svn/svn.py
@@ -186,17 +186,6 @@
         ):
             yield self.__to_entry(log_entry)
 
-    def export(self, revision: int) -> None:
-        """Export the repository to a given version.
-
-        """
-        self.client.export(
-            self.remote_url,
-            to=self.local_url.decode("utf-8"),
-            rev=revision,
-            ignore_keywords=True,
-        )
-
     def export_temporary(self, revision: int) -> Tuple[str, bytes]:
         """Export the repository to a given revision in a temporary location. This is up
         to the caller of this function to clean up the temporary location when done (cf.
@@ -272,27 +261,25 @@
         self, revision: int
     ) -> Iterator[Tuple[Dict, DirectoryFromDisk]]:
         """Compute the information at a given svn revision. This is expected to be used
-        for update only.
+        for checks only.
 
         Yields:
             The tuple (commit dictionary, targeted directory object).
 
         """
         # Update disk representation of the repository at revision id
-        self.export(revision)
+        local_dirname, local_url = self.export_temporary(revision)
         # Compute the current hashes on disk
         directory = DirectoryFromDisk.from_disk(
-            path=os.fsencode(self.local_url), max_content_length=self.max_content_length
-        )
-
-        # Update the replay collaborator with the right state
-        self.swhreplay = ra.Replay(
-            conn=self.conn, rootpath=self.local_url, directory=directory
+            path=local_url, max_content_length=self.max_content_length
         )
 
         # Retrieve the commit information for revision
         commit = list(self.logs(revision, revision))[0]
 
+        # Clean export directory
+        self.clean_fs(local_dirname)
+
         yield commit, directory
 
     def clean_fs(self, local_dirname: Optional[str] = None) -> None:
diff --git a/swh/loader/svn/tests/test_loader.py b/swh/loader/svn/tests/test_loader.py
--- a/swh/loader/svn/tests/test_loader.py
+++ b/swh/loader/svn/tests/test_loader.py
@@ -1558,3 +1558,64 @@
     assert_last_visit_matches(
         loader.storage, repo_url, status="full", type="svn",
     )
+
+
+def test_svn_loader_incremental_replay_start_with_empty_directory(
+    swh_storage, mocker, tmp_path
+):
+    # create a repository
+    repo_path = os.path.join(tmp_path, "tmprepo")
+    repos.create(repo_path)
+    repo_url = f"file://{repo_path}"
+
+    # first commit
+    add_commit(
+        repo_url,
+        ("Add a file"),
+        [
+            CommitChange(
+                change_type=CommitChangeType.AddOrUpdate, path="foo.txt", data=b"foo\n",
+            )
+        ],
+    )
+
+    # first load
+    loader = SvnLoader(swh_storage, repo_url, temp_directory=tmp_path)
+    assert loader.load() == {"status": "eventful"}
+    assert_last_visit_matches(
+        loader.storage, repo_url, status="full", type="svn",
+    )
+
+    # second commit
+    add_commit(
+        repo_url,
+        "Modify previously added file",
+        [
+            CommitChange(
+                change_type=CommitChangeType.AddOrUpdate, path="foo.txt", data=b"bar\n",
+            )
+        ],
+    )
+
+    class SvnRepoCheckReplayStartWithEmptyDirectory(SvnRepo):
+        def swh_hash_data_per_revision(self, start_revision: int, end_revision: int):
+            """Overrides swh_hash_data_per_revision method to grab the content
+            of the directory where the svn revisions will be replayed before that
+            process starts."""
+            self.replay_dir_content_before_start = [
+                os.path.join(root, name)
+                for root, _, files in os.walk(self.local_url)
+                for name in files
+            ]
+            yield from super().swh_hash_data_per_revision(start_revision, end_revision)
+
+    from swh.loader.svn import loader
+
+    mocker.patch.object(loader, "SvnRepo", SvnRepoCheckReplayStartWithEmptyDirectory)
+
+    # second load, incremental
+    loader = SvnLoader(swh_storage, repo_url, temp_directory=tmp_path)
+    loader.load()
+
+    # check work directory was empty before replaying revisions
+    assert loader.svnrepo.replay_dir_content_before_start == []