The families of missing campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay may have to wait up to a week to learn the fate of their loved ones.
Human remains located by police in Victoria's high country are in the process of being forensically examined in the expectation that the secret lovers have finally been found.
Their bodies are believed to have been dumped off the Providence Spur Track, north of Dargo in the state's east, within dense bushland for more than 20 months.
Russell Hill (pictured, right) and Carol Clay (left) are alleged by police to have been murdered during a camping trip in March 2020
Gregory Lynn, 55, (pictured) was charged with the murder of secret lovers Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, as police begin the exhaustive search for their bodies
Footage of the search showed plain clothes officers sifting through dirt by hand as an excavator worked ahead turning the soil over and digging up the packed ground
Police had descended on the precise location three days after the arrest of Jetstar pilot Gregory Lynn, 55, who charged with the couple's murders after four days in custody.
On Wednesday, police said it would take 'quite some time' to determine if the remains are in fact those of Ms Clay, 73, and Mr Hill, 74.
While fingerprints and dental records of the bodies could reveal their identities within minutes, it is understood detectives will need to rely on DNA samples due to the devastating toll of the harsh environment on their bodies.
The terrain is deemed some of the harshest on the planet, with predators such as wild dogs roaming the wilderness.
Early reports suggest the remains were found in what appeared to be a shallow grave, which would have likely allowed exposure to the elements on the mountain's predators.
DNA testing on recently deceased corpses can take a matter of hours, but analysis on older bodies becomes more complex, particularly if all that remains are bones.
Experts in the field of forensic science claim techniques are constantly changing as new methods become available and validated, but the extraction of DNA from bone material remains for now a time-consuming and laborious process.
Bones need to be cleaned and powdered to enhance access of extraction chemicals and the extraction procedure itself may take several hours or days depending on the condition of the test sample.
Mr Hill's family were not aware that he would be spending the weekend with his lover, Ms Clay
Forensic experts made the grisly find off the Providence Spur Track north of Dargo in the state's east within dense bushland often frequented by deer hunters
Victoria Police also have the added burden of a forensic team still struggling to catch-up with a backlog of analysis brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Six hard lockdowns have seen routine forensic examinations pushed back for months on end, with some court cases being delayed for years.
Despite the backlog, the remains are expected to jump the queue in the hope of finally providing the families of Mr Hill and Ms Clay the opportunity to give them a proper burial.
Mystery remains, for now, over what else police have found at the burial site.
While police were keen to use the media to catch the alleged killer, it now refuses to answer basic questions on the still active case.
On Monday, police refused to say if the alleged killer's trailer had yet been located, or whether Mr Hill's missing drone was found at the location the remains were extracted from.
Despite having near GPS-quality information on the bush burial site, it still took expert officers days to extract the human remains.
The police team will continue to search for more human remains until at least Friday in the hope of turning up other personal items.
On Monday, temperatures climbed into the 30s as plain clothes officers sifted through dirt by hand and an excavator dug up packed ground.
Detectives believe the bodies had been dumped in the area the very day they went missing on March 20 last year.
Over that period, the rugged terrain has endured two winters, with the area prone to rain, hail, sleet, snow, frost, strong winds, low temperatures and frequent blizzards, especially during winter and spring.
Many people who go missing in the
