A man allegedly found standing naked over the body of woman on the shoreline at Cabarita Wharf in Sydney's inner west has been charged murder.

Key points: Woman found dead at Cabarita Wharf had facial cuts and other injuries

Woman found dead at Cabarita Wharf had facial cuts and other injuries Police believe the woman and arrested man knew each other

Police believe the woman and arrested man knew each other Detectives say woman may not have died at the wharf

Police allegedly found Khanh Thanh Ly, 35, standing near the woman's body, which was also unclothed, in shallow water about 11:30pm on Thursday.

The woman, 27, had cuts to her face and other injuries and paramedics were unable to revive her.

Police also found blood on a footpath and a car located on a residential street at nearby Breakfast Point.

Detective Superintendent Mark Jones said although it was early in the investigation, is it thought the pair knew each other.

"From what I understand, the male was standing over the female just at the water's edge in a foot deep of water," he said.

Police allege the man tried to run away when emergency services arrived, but he was arrested at the scene and taken to Burwood Police Station.

He has since been charged with one count of murder.

Police have been searching the area close to where the woman's body was found. ( ABC News: Jessica Kidd )

Detective Superintendent Jones said police were investigating whether the woman died at the wharf or another location.

"There are certainly a number of things we're looking at and we believe there are a number of crime scenes," he said.

"We have police assisted by homicide and specialist police currently in a number of locations in the inner-west and in the inner-city area trying to establish whether or not something did actually occur at a location in addition to where we are now."

Police have forensically examined the wharf, as well as crime scenes at nearby Breakfast Point in the CBD.

A black Audi was also seized from the scene.

Resident 'rattled' after hearing sirens

Local resident Trisha Panayi said she heard sirens late on Thursday night.

"We just heard sirens going into park, about six police cars, and an ambulance, and then since 11:30pm the road's been closed off," she said.

"[I'm] a little bit rattled. Nothing like this has happened around here before, so it's a bit scary.

"We had somebody knocking on the door first thing in the morning, just to find out if we heard anything, and that's when we realised something terrible had happened."

Cabarita Wharf, at Cabarita Point Park, is served by ferries running between Circular Quay and Parramatta.