To get to the bush intersection you have to travel through Macedon, a quiet and lush town with a population of approximately 1300, and take a left turn down a narrow track.

The site is a place that is remote and quiet. Although close to a residential area, it sits at the entrance to the Macedon Regional Park, where scattered country houses give way to undulating bushland and thick undergrowth.

On Monday afternoon forensic officers and detectives walked in and out of scrubland, disappearing out of view down a slight incline carrying tools including shovels, spray paint and distance measuring implements.

It will probably take investigators days to officially identify the badly decomposed body.

But the level of police, media and public interest in the discovery, by a bushwalker on Monday, gave the strong impression that this was a significant development.

The site is in the general vicinity of where police had searched for missing Melbourne mother Karen Ristevski. That troubling, unsolved case was on the lips of journalists gathered at the the scene, and curious locals who ventured there.

Locals Krystal Pate and Alastair McLellan said the entire area around Mount Macedon was a popular destination for hikers.

However they said they had not previously realised that the road near where the body was found went so deep into the forest.

"I thought it was a no-through road until today," said Mr McLellan. "But you would have your local people go through walks here."

Police were still working at the area on Monday as the sun began setting and a chill descended.

Birds chirped and the police radio crackled in the background.

Around 7.30pm the State Emergency Service arrived on the scene, setting up a flood lights around a clutter of police vehicles.

Most of the media had left but police and SES would stay into the night.