Fresh analysis of the final moments of doomed Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 suggest nobody was at the controls when the aircraft came down, investigators have said.

The new information was published in a report released on Wednesday and supports the investigators’ long-held theory that pilots were not at the controls of the Boeing 777 when it ran out of fuel.

The report, from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, said the plane’s flaps were not extended when it crashed, ruling out a controlled descent.

Researchers analysed debris from the plane’s right wing and found the damage sustained was “consistent with the flaps in the retracted position”.

Data from the final communications with the aircraft was “consistent with the aircraft being in a high and increasing rate of descent at that time,” the report says.

This scenario means the plane would have plummeted at high speed into the Indian Ocean.

The report is at odds with the controlled descent scenario, which critics of the investigation have pointed to, in which it is argued someone was still piloting the plane when it crashed.

If that was the case a pilot could have glided the plane much further than the estimated crash zone.

The Boeing 777 disappeared with 239 passengers and crew after leaving Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing in March, 2014.

MH370 debris - in pictures Show all 7 1 /7 MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris French police officers carry a piece of debris from a plane in Saint-Andre, Reunion Island. AP MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris Police carry a piece of debris from an unidentified aircraft found in the coastal area of Saint-Andre de la Reunion, in the east of the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion AFP PHOTO / YANNICK PITOUYANNICK PITOU/AFP/Getty Images MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris The plane part is being taken to France for further investigation Reuters MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris French gendarmes and police inspect a large piece of plane debris which was found on the beach in Saint-Andre, on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion Reuters MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris French gendarmes and police inspect a large piece of plane debris which was found on the beach in Saint-Andre, on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion Reuters MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris Johnny Begue, a member of a local shore cleaning association, in Saint-Andre, French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, holds the remain of a suitcase found the day before on the same site Getty Images MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris Searches continued on Friday for other possible MH370 debris along beaches on the island of Réunion AP

So far just 20 pieces of debris have been found, but no major wreckage from the plane has been discovered.