Detective Inspector Scott Beard says his heart goes out to Grace Millane's family after the discovery of a body in the Waitakere Ranges.

A body has been found in the search for missing British backpacker Grace Millane, about 10 metres from the edge of a road.

Police made the discovery following a scene examination of a bush area on Scenic Drive, in Auckland's Waitakere Ranges, on Sunday afternoon.

Formal identification has not yet taken place but police said they believed the body was Millane's and the search for her had come to an end.

On Saturday evening, police announced they would charge a 26-year-old man with her murder. He remains in custody and is due to appear at Auckland District Court on Monday.

SUPPLIED Grace Millane, 22, from Essex, had been in New Zealand for about two weeks.

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Police have released two photographs of a 2016 red Toyota Corolla hatchback, which was hired from a central Auckland rental car company.

The car was hired just before lunchtime on Sunday, and was found yesterday in Taupō.

Police want to hear from anyone who saw the car last Monday morning, between 6am and 9.30am in the West Auckland area.

Revealing news of the discovery of the body, Detective Inspector Scott Beard said officers identified the Waitakere area as a place of interest late on Saturday.

A group of 18 staff, including forensic experts, conducted a full scene examination in the bush area for most of Sunday.

"I can now advise that a short time ago we located a body which we believe to be Grace," Beard said.

"The formal identification process will now take place, however, from the evidence we have gathered over the last few days we expect that this is Grace.

"Obviously this brings the search for Grace to an end. This is an unbearable time for the Millane family and our hearts go out to them."

Supplied Police have released a photo of a red 2016 Toyota Corolla hatchback, which was hired from a central Auckland rental car company.

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However, the investigation will continue for some time.

"The focus now is to piece together exactly what happened to a young woman who came to New Zealand on her OE."

He added Millane's dad, who arrived in New Zealand from London on Friday to help with the search, had been joined by another family member.

"Any father in this situation is going to struggle," he said.

"We are putting a lot of support around him. I feel for him, I have a daughter in her twenties.

"It's difficult because he is here with a brother from England, and the rest of the family are back home. Our hearts go out to them."

Millane, 22, from Essex in the United Kingdom, was last seen in central Auckland on December 1 and was reported missing on Wednesday.

At a press conference on Saturday, Beard said police had gathered evidence, from CCTV footage and scene examinations at the CityLife Hotel on Queen St where she was last seen, that determined "Grace is no longer alive".

At the time, Beard said while officers did not know where she was, they were "determined to find her and return her to her family".

Back home in Essex, church services were to be held to remember Millane.

Father John Corbyn, of Our Lady of Good Counsel Roman Catholic Church in Wickford, where the Millane family lives said she was well known in the community.

"Many of our young people went to school with her. She went to Catholic school, and so did they, so they know her.

"We were praying for her while she was missing, and then of course ... the sad realisation that she wasn't missing any longer, as it were."

He said the mood at the church was "rather sombre and sad", adding: "I didn't know her personally but many of the people here do. They're shocked and saddened by what's happened."

Masses in Millane's memory were planned for Sunday morning (UK time) where churchgoers would be "praying for her and her family".

Supplied Some of Grace Millane's belongings, including her passport, remain missing.

In Auckland, police continued to search the CityLife apartment where Millane was last seen at 9.41pm on December 1, and were sifting through hundreds of hours of CCTV footage.

Beard said he had no evidence to suggest Millane knew the man in custody before Saturday night but detectives knew they were together from the time she was captured on CCTV footage at SkyCity to the time she was seen at the CityLife Hotel.

Asked if the pair met on dating app Tinder, Beard said he would not speculate.

Detectives were also still searching for some of Millane's belongings, including her passport, a pale pink Casio Baby-G watch and a silver necklace with a green stone in the middle, which were missing from the Base Backpacker hostel where she was staying.

"That property is going to be somewhere, the clothing is going to be somewhere, we haven't found it. Somebody may find it somewhere, we don't know what has happened to it," Beard said on Saturday.

ALDEN WILLIAMS/STUFF Grace Millane's father David Millane spoke to media at Auckland Central Police Station on Friday.

Millane was on a year-long OE after graduating from the University of Lincoln in September.

The advertising graduate and keen artist arrived in New Zealand on November 20, after travelling through South America.

This was her first time travelling abroad alone.

Anyone who saw the vehicle is asked to call Police on 0800 676 255.