A late night encounter has resulted in the first confirmed sighting of a critically-endangered tiger quoll in over a decade.

The Otway Ranges in Victoria's south-west are a known habitat of the carnivorous marsupial, but for the past 10 years no-one has been able to confirm if the species was still alive in the wild.

Late last month Matt Morton heard a thud on the deck of his home in the region and went out to investigate.

"There was a ginger and white spotted animal that sort of looked like an oversized possum," he said.

"Then it slowly had walked up a couple of flights of stairs and as it got past the laundry it defecated in front of the laundry door.

"Luckily we picked it up with a doggy bag and then placed it in the bin and we ended up missing the bin collection on Monday morning. So we were very lucky to have the scats still in the bin."

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 3 minutes 33 seconds 3 m 33 s What the Quoll? ( Anthony Stewart ) Download 1.6 MB

The animal's faeces were collected and DNA testing has confirmed it was a tiger quoll.

Lizzie Corke, the founder of the Conservation Ecology Centre at Cape Otway, has been trying to establish whether there is a surviving population of the animals for the past 18 months.

"They are stunning animals, they're gingery-browny colour, covered in beautiful white spots right down their tails and across their bodies and they have the most divine little pink noses and very strong teeth," she said.

"Completely carnivorous, they are our largest remaining carnivorous marsupial on the Australian mainland.

"So they are very, very special and play a really important role in ecosystem."

Honing in

She says their position at the top of the food chain has contributed to a shortage of the species in the wild.

"They exist in quite low densities naturally," she said.

"So when we lose just a couple here and there actually we are making a big impact on the overall population."

The ecology centre's Shayne Neal says finding more scats may actually hold the key to protecting the elusive species.

"They actually tend to seek each other's scats out, they poo and wee in piles, in little latrine sites and over that 500-hectare home range," he said.

"So the idea is if we can hone in and find those scats, because they don't move they are a little bit easier hopefully to find."

Mr Neal says the centre is training a team of dogs to hunt for scats.

With a confirmed location, it is hoped they will hear a wild tiger quoll's roar.