RELATED: Woman's body found at Macedon
TUESDAY 6pm: Police have confirmed the human remains found at Mount Macedon on Monday are that of missing Avondale Heights, woman Karen Ristevski.
Investigators received the results following forensic testing this afternoon.
Karen was last seen at her Oakley Drive home in Avondale Heights about 10am on June 29.
Her remains were found by a member of the public in bushland off Loch Road at Mount Macedon about 12.30pm on Monday.
Police conducted a line search at the scene today and are keen to speak to anyone that might have seen any suspicious activity in that area.
Missing Persons Squad detectives are appealing for anyone that might have been walking along the dirt track off Loch Road or anyone that might have seen any vehicles to contact them.
Investigators are also hoping to speak to anyone that might have been at Mount Macedon any time from June last year and took photos or any video footage in the area.
UPDATE 2.30pm: SES operations manager Mal Ross said crews had searched an area of about one square kilometre on either side of the track in an operation which concluded by about 2pm.
He said 22 volunteers from seven units across the region had pitched in with no further searches required.
“At this stage we’re finishing up and that’s all we need to do,” he said.
“They’re happy with the area we’ve covered.”
Police also left the scene shortly after.
UPDATE 11.50am: Police have said they do not expect results from a forensic examination until at least tomorrow.
UPDATE 11.20am: SES crews are combing bushland nearby to where the body was found.
UPDATE Tuesday, 10.45am: Emergency services crews are on scene and police have now taped the area off.
UPDATE 9am: Police have not returned to the scene this morning, as forensic tests are conducted to determine whether the remains are those of missing Melbourne mother Karen Ristevski.
EARLIER: A badly decomposed body found in bushland south of Bendigo was removed from the scene late on Monday night.
Forensic investigators and homicide squad detectives spent more than eight hours working at the site, near a dirt track close to the outskirts of Mount Macedon.
Police worked through the afternoon and into the night, with the coronial service arriving after nightfall and removing the remains about 10.30pm.
It is understood the body was escorted to Melbourne by a number of detectives.
"The remains will be taken for forensic testing to determine the identity of the deceased and the cause of death," a police media spokesman said.
The body was found by a bushwalker about 12.30pm on Monday - reportedly near, or under some logs.
The body is yet to be formally identified but police at the scene said the body was that of a woman and was "considerably decomposed".
The body was found not far from an area where police searched for missing Melbourne mother Karen Ristevski in December.
Police cordoned off an area at the corner of Salisbury Road and Loch Road, a hilly single-vehicle track that runs past the Macedon Regional Park.
Dozens of journalists and photographers gathered at the scene watching from afar as investigators, some with shovels, worked among thick undergrowth.
The place where the body was discovered is a number of metres from the road, behind a small hill, making it difficult to observe from behind the police cordon.
About 6.45pm, a couple turned up at scene and told officers they had previously seen a man in the area with a shovel and made a joke to him about burying a body.
After recounting the story to uniformed officers, the couple was taken away from the media contingent to behind the police cordon.
Locals Krystal Pate and Alastair McLellan visited the scene on Monday afternoon and said the entire area around Mount Macedon was a very popular place for hikers.
However, they said they didn't realise the road near where the body was found went so deep into the forest.
"I thought it was a no-through road until today," said Mr McLellan.
"Though you would have your local people going for walks around here."
Resident Paul Gordon said walkers avoided the bush track, near where the body was found, because it was so rough.
Ian Flannery said "very, very few people at all" ventured into that part of the bush.
"You might see a couple of walkers, maybe a four-wheel-drive driven down every now and then, but it's very, very isolated."
In December, police looking for Ms Ristevski searched dams and grassland in Toolern Vale, about 25 kilometres from where the body was found on Monday.
However, it is not known if the case is linked.
Ms Ristevski, 47, was last seen at her Avondale Heights home by her husband Borce Ristevski on June 29, 2016.
There have been reports Ms Ristevski's phone pinged on towers on the Calder Highway and at Gisborne on the day she went missing.
Police and SES volunteers searched an area spanning from Blackhill Road to Gisborne Road, looking in grassland, waterways, creeks and farms on December 19 and 20.
Mount Macedon is a 23 minute-drive from Toolern Vale, and a 15 minute-drive from Gisborne.
Fairfax Media understands the Ristevski family is aware of the discovery, but has not been formally notified by police.
Ms Ristevski's husband, Borce, did not respond to calls on Monday afternoon.
