Police arrived at the unit in Bega Court about lunchtime, with investigators cordoning off a large area of the public housing flats as a forensic team scoured the area. However, the circumstances of the man's death are still unknown.

''The purpose of all this examination, all these resources, is to determine as quickly as possible whether it's a suspicious death or not, and at this stage we don't have any information that it is suspicious,'' Detective Sergeant Dave Turner said. ''We cast as wide a net as we can to make sure that if there's any evidence that we need to preserve, it's preserved, and we just check out the whole area, and we put as many resources as we can to it at the early stages.''

The man was found in his unit by a friend about 1.15pm, with the police and ambulance service arriving a short time later.

All six units in the section of flats where the man was found were cordoned off, with the neighbours advised to find alternative accommodation until Monday.

They were not permitted to enter their homes even to collect clothes.

A police spokeswoman said it could be several days before police finish their investigations at the flats.

With forensic examinations in progress, she said it was too early to give a time frame of when the man died.

Detectives spent the afternoon doorknocking neighbours, many of whom knew the dead man.