A woman's body was found in Diamond Harbour on Banks Peninsula on Monday evening. (File photo).

A woman has died after falling down a bank while running her dog near Christchurch.

A police spokesman said the woman's body was found in Diamond Harbour on Banks Peninsula at 7.26pm on Monday.

Stuff understands the woman was going for a run with her dog when it appears she slipped and fell down a bank.

She had been reported missing about 6.20pm. Her death has been referred to the coroner and is not being treated as suspicious.

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The dog was initially reported as missing. A Diamond Harbour resident, who declined to be named, told Stuff she received a call from a neighbour on Monday evening to say they had found a dog. As they could not have the dog at their place the woman brought the dog back to her home.

She then posted a photo of him on a community Facebook page to see if anyone recognised him.

"No-one seemed to recognise him so we rang up the council and managed to get through and they then put us in touch with the owners."

The owners of the dog, called Mac, told the woman they were searching for their daughter who was missing.

"We made the decision to keep Mac here until today to give them time to deal with a horrendous situation."

The woman said the dog was OK.

"We noticed he had quite a bit of dirt over him, but he was very spritely and springy and doing all the normal things that a dog should do, he was very happy to see someone."

The father of the woman who died was "inconsolable" she said.

Coastguard NZ southern regional manager Cheryl Moffat said a Canterbury crew was sent to help search for the woman and transport police to the scene about 7pm on Monday.

The police spokesman said their "thoughts are with the person's family at this difficult time".

The discovery comes a day after a body was found in a Christchurch creek.

The body was discovered near Sisson Dr, Northcote about 3pm on Sunday.

On Monday morning a police spokeswoman said inquiries were ongoing, however the death was not being treated as suspicious.

The death had been referred to the coroner.