Turkish intelligence reportedly have audio and video recordings from inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where Jamal Khashoggi’s Saudi captors can be heard interrogating, torturing, and ultimately murdering him.

US officials have been told by their Turkish counterparts that the recordings prove beyond doubt that the Saudi journalist was killed and dismembered by a team of Saudi operatives, according to the Washington Post, for whom Mr Khashoggi wrote a column.

Turkey has not released the recordings nor officially confirmed that they exist, although pro-government Turkish media has alluded to them several times in recent days.

Saudi Arabia has vehemently denied that it was involved in Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance on October 2 and has insisted that he left the consulate safely after filing paperwork related to his upcoming marriage.

However, as anger towards Riyadh mounted in Washington and Turkish officials claimed to have comprehensive evidence of Saudi guilt, there were some indications the Saudi position may be shifting.

Turkey announced on Thursday that it had accepted a Saudi offer to form a joint investigation into the case, a sign of a possible thaw between the two sides after more than a week of standoff.

The Saudi ambassador to Washington, Khalid bin Salman, also abruptly returned home for consultations. “We expect some information when he gets back,” said Heather Nauert, spokeswoman for the US State Department.