A skull and several bones were discovered by a trail bike rider in the Belanglo State Forest on Sunday.

The area of the forest where the bones were found was not searched by police during the hunt for Milat’s victims.

Seven bodies were found between September 1992 and November 1993, about 5km from where the latest bones were discovered.

Goulburn Local Area Commander Acting Superintendent Evan Quarmby said there was no indication of injuries on the remains and it was unclear how old they were.

The bones were found scattered above the surface near a large fallen tree, only metres from a fire trail.

The homicide squad is involved in the investigation, but Acting Superintendent Quarmby said it was too early to determine if a murder had been committed or if the bones were from only one person.

He said focusing the investigation on Milat would be ‘‘jumping to conclusions’’.

‘‘At this stage we’re dealing with bones, whether that’s one skeleton or not, we haven’t made a determination on that yet,’’ he said.

‘‘We’re not going to be jumping to any conclusions or give any families any sort of hope or otherwise.’’

Acting Superintendent Quarmby said the bones would be removed after they had been photographed and forensically examined.

The search area would then be widened. The bones were found in an area of the forest known as Dalys Waterhole.

He would not comment on whether anything had been found with the bones.

‘‘In the past, searches were made on the best information available at the time, and this area wasn’t searched during these investigations,’’ he said.

‘‘We have to make sure that we gather all of the possible evidence from the location and nothing is lost that will assist in our inquiries.

‘‘We are searching a relatively small area, [the bones] are confined to a relatively small area, however we will be expanding that search today and in the coming days.

For more on this story, please see the print edition of today's Canberra Times