Police say the death of an Indonesian woman whose remains were found in a Brisbane unit appears to be the result of domestic violence.

Mayang Prasetyo, 27, a transgender prostitute, died at the hands of her partner Marcus Volke, 27, who took his own life shortly after police found her remains at their Teneriffe unit on Saturday.

Detective Senior Sergeant Tom Armitt said: “At this present time, our investigations are simply around it’s a domestic violence matter that has become out of hand.”

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He also revealed that Ms Mayang died “more than likely late Thursday evening, or early Friday” and said there was no suggestions drugs were involved.

A former friend told the ABC Volke had been in poor mental health when they last spoke in 2010.

Detective Senior Sergeant Armitt said police would probably finish investigating at the unit later on Wednesday.

“It is our intention to probably release that property back to the management late this afternoon,” he said.

He said police could not comment on the specifics of the crime scene at the Commercial Road apartment.

“At this point in time it’s inappropriate to give any detail – there is a lot of detail out in the public, but as far as the Queensland police is concerned, we can’t provide any comment in relation to that,” he said.

Detective Senior Sergeant Armitt also confirmed they had interviewed a tradesman who was reportedly called to the apartment by Volke to fix his stove during a blackout.

Electrician Brad Coyne told Network Ten he noted a “squelch” as he walked on the carpet and Volke told him ‘you’ll have to mind the smell. The smell is obviously quite strong’.

“He said ‘I’m cooking a pig’s broth at the moment’,” Mr Coyne said.

Mr Coyne said he also feared for his own safety when he noticed rubber gloves, bleach and a “massive” cooking pot on the stove.

Detective Senior Sergeant Armitt said: “He provided as much detail as he provided to the media”.

Mother says she forgives her child’s ‘killer’

The senior detective said police could not yet confirm the identities of the victims and they had not spoken directly to the woman’s family.

“We have had direct contact with the Indonesian consulate and the members of the Indonesian government in Jakarta,” he said.

“Those arrangements will be made as soon as the coroner is satisfied we have positively identified that person and that we’ve made contact with the family.”

He said detectives had also travelled to Mr Volke’s hometown of Ballarat in Victoria.

“Whilst they’re there, we’ll obviously be conducting any inquiries with friends, relatives, health authorities and the like,” he said.

He said Mr Volke’s body would be released to the family once he had been formally identified.

“As soon as we have official identification via the state coroner, that we’ve presented enough evidence to the coroner, that we definitely can confirm that it is that male person, arrangements will immediately be made to return him to his parents,” he said.

Ms Mayang’s mother Nining Sukarni has spoken out, saying she was struggling to comprehend that her eldest child’s “kind and soft” partner had committed such a terrible act.

But despite her grief, Ms Nining said she had forgiven him and reached out to his family.

“My message for Marcus’s family is let’s forgive each other,” Ms Nining told Fairfax Media.

Ms Mayang identified as a girl throughout her childhood but her mother still referred to her as her son Febri Andriansyah.

“Please forgive Febri if he did things that anger Marcus or his family. I forgave Marcus for whatever he has done to Febri,” she said.

“I hope Marcus’ mum and the whole family be strengthened in this difficult time.”

Prayer service held in Bali

Ms Nining said she had no plans to come to Australia and would wait for her child’s remains to be returned to Indonesia.

“I’ll just wait here – I asked the Indonesian government to bring back his remains as soon as possible – I will bury him here,” she said.

Ms Mayang was the eldest of three girls and sent money home to Indonesia to support her single mother and and pay for her sisters’ education.

A prayer service was held in Bail on Tuesday night at the home where Ms Mayang recently lived.

Neighbours and members of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community attended.

A friend, who gave his name as Albert, said: “We never expected she would end up like this and that her boyfriend would have the heart to do that.”

When she last spoke to Ms Mayang on Thursday, Ms Nining said she had been restless in Brisbane.

Ms Nining said she told her not to fight with Volke whom Ms Mayang had met while working on a cruise ship.

Ms Nining says Ms Mayang sought her blessing before they married abroad in 2013 and the couple had visited her home in Bandar Lampung, Sumatra, last year.

“He was a kind person, cheerful, warm to people, effervescent, always going from here to there,” Ms Nining said.

Volke fled from the couple’s unit when police arrived on Saturday night to investigate reports from neighbours of a foul stench.

Officers found Ms Mayang’s dismembered remains inside the unit but police have not confirmed reports Volke had been cooking a part of his girlfriend on a stove top when they arrived at the scene.

Volke’s body was later discovered in a nearby industrial bin where it is believed he took his own life.