A French couple accused of shooting dead one policeman and wounding another in South Africa before fleeing has been found dead after a shoot-out with police.

Last week the couple opened fire on police after an attempt to evict them for failing to pay rent on their farmhouse north of Cape Town.

Police called in helicopters and the dog squad when the couple sought refuge in barren hills near their farmhouse.

The couple, Phillipe Menierre, 60, and Agnes Jardel, were tracked to a farmhouse less than one kilometre from where they had been living for the past 12 years.

Once linked to a survivalist cult in America, the couple had lived in isolation at their farm home for many years.

Police are uncertain whether it was their shots that killed the couple or whether they died at their own hands.