Police in Indonesia have retracted earlier statements that the body of a man, found dead and tied up in a plastic bag, was Australian.

Bali police now say the man was from England but that he used to live in Australia.

A farmer in Bali's Badung region found the man's body in the bag, along with a foam mattress.

A forensics doctor at Bali's Sanglah Hospital, Ida Bagus Putu Alit, said there were three cuts to the man's neck, one of which severed a vein and killed him.

The man's legs and arms were tied and he had bruises to his face and body.

The head of the Bali police local crime division, Captain Wisnu Wardana, said the man lived in Bali.

The man is thought to have died early on Monday morning, he said.

Police spoke to the man's Indonesian wife and identified him as Australian.

But the Badung Regency Police Chief, Komang Suartana, has retracted that, saying he is English.