Zlatko Sikorsky, 34, was wanted over the discovery of a body, believed to be female, in a barrel on Wednesday and was "contained" in an Alexandra Headland unit complex since Friday.

He was holed up in an Alexandra Headland apartment complex, prompting police to lock down the surrounding area from 3.25pm on Friday.

Queensland Police said in a statement that Sikorsky had surrendered and been arrested without incident at about 6.30pm on Saturday "following a highly complex and lengthy negotiation lasting nearly 28 hours".

Sunshine Coast District Officer Superintendent Darryl Johnson said that at all times during the incident, public safety remained the top priority of police.

"It was important to give our negotiators the time and space to help us resolve this peacefully - and I am relieved that we have been able to take this man into custody without him, any member of the public or any of our officers being hurt," Superintendent Johnson said.

"I want to thank the people of Alexandra Headlands - particularly those living within our exclusion zone - for their patience and assistance during the last 24 hours. It is very much appreciated."

Sikorsky was taken to the Maroochydore Watch House.

Police said negotiations with Sikorsky had been "on and off" since the start of the stand-off, and he was believed to be alone inside the Juan Street unit.

An unnamed resident who let the wanted fugitive into his unit, before he realised who his guest was, said he was shocked to come home from the shops to find his street crawling with police.

“I was home and my friend, who I hadn’t seen in a long time, rang me up and wanted to catch up," the male resident told Nine News.

"So I said yes, I’ve just moved to the Sunny Coast, come down.

"My friend showed up with this bloke, my friend ended up leaving because he had to go see his kids or something, so I said he (Sikorsky) is alright to stay here if he wants to."

The resident said Sikorsky had been worried that someone was going to tip off the police.

"I didn’t think anything of it, I didn’t know who he was. He fell asleep on the couch, I did my washing," the man told Nine News.

"My missus ended up coming over, which woke him up, he was a bit agitated, we had an argument, she left, I went to the shops and 10 minutes later I came back to this."

Police set up an exclusion zone and blocked several surrounding streets about 3.25pm on Friday, but would not say how they were notified Sikorsky was inside the unit complex.

Residents were asked to restrict their movements and members of the public should avoid the area as roadblocks were in place, restricting traffic and pedestrian movement.

Those heading to the Sunshine Coast for the start of the school holidays were urged to check whether their accommodation was within the exclusion zone.

Police had provided an update on Saturday morning saying some units had been evacuated, but the majority of residents were still in their homes and were safe.

Sikorsky's family had also been assisting the 30-40 officers who had remained at the Juan Street complex throughout the night.

"Police are still negotiating with the man inside the unit, it's been going all night ... we'll continue to do that until we can peacefully resolve the situation," Superintendent Darryl Johnson said.

The exclusion zone put in place encompassed Juan Street as well as Alex Parade, Mary Street, Mayfield Street and William Street.

Police said there had been "some level of engagement" with Sikorsky on Friday night.

Fern Murphy, who lives in another unit complex on Juan Street, said she was walking back from the beach on Friday afternoon when she was confronted by two heavily armed officers wearing body armour crouched down behind a fence alongside her building.

Another police officer approached her and said he would escort Ms Murphy to her unit as long as she then stayed inside.

"It was a bit confronting — the guys were crouching behind a fence with huge weapons and I was just strolling back from the beach," she said.

Ms Murphy said she could hear yelling from the building where Sikorsky was believed to be.

"We could hear someone yelling 'I’m turning my phone on' repeatedly for about a minute — I guess the police were trying to talk to him," she said.

As she watched from her nearby home, Ms Murphy saw heavily armed officers in the courtyard below the building where the fugitive was believed to be, watching the balconies above.

Ms Murphy said she did not realise who was at the centre of the standoff until a friend saw media reports online.

"It's quite shocking to know that he was there ... eye distance away," she said.

Investigations into the disappearance of Larissa Beilby, 16, had led to police finding a body in a barrel on the tray of a ute in the Gold Coast suburb of Stapylton on Wednesday.

Officers had initially gone to a property in the Logan suburb of Buccan earlier on Wednesday afternoon and seen a black ute flee as they arrived.

The vehicle was tracked to the Stapylton mobile home park where the body was discovered in the abandoned ute.

A police service spokeswoman said the remains in the barrel still had not been identified on Saturday.

Police issued a photograph and revealed the identity of Sikorsky, whom they wanted to question over the discovery of the body.

-with AAP