Oz Police Search Home Of Missing Irishwoman

Police in Melbourne, Australia, have been searching the home of a missing Irishwoman in the hope of finding clues about her disappearance.

Officers twice searched the flat Jill Meagher shares with her husband Tom.

Murder squad detectives have also identified the Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio employee on CCTV footage in the early hours of Saturday.

Detective Inspector John Potter described the search of the home as routine as a team of forensic officers carried six brown paper bags of evidence from the Meaghers' apartment.

Tom, who reported his wife missing on Saturday after she failed to return home, consented to police searching their home.

"(Jill's) husband has been nothing more than co-operative so we can't read anything into that, this is something that we would normally do," Det Insp Potter said.

The 29-year-old was last seen having drinks with work colleagues at a Melbourne bar at about 1.30am local time and can be seen on the footage apparently walking to her home, less than a kilometre away.

She had a brief phone conversation with her brother who lives in Perth at 1.45am. The pair spoke to discuss their father's ill health but Jill's brother told police he was concerned about male voices in the background during the call. 

"The issue is if there was something sinister happening at that point she presumably wouldn't be discussing the health of her dad," Det Insp Potter told Fairfax Radio on Tuesday.

Police are focusing on the discovery of Ms Meagher's handbag on Monday morning in an alley not far from where she lives.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Ken Lay said it was "interesting" that officers had previously searched the area thoroughly on Saturday and failed to find the handbag.

"That handbag's turned up on the Monday. Either police have missed that or someone has placed the bag back at the location."

The bag, found near a car, had Ms Meagher's personal identification but not her missing mobile phone.

Det Insp Potter said there was no sign of a struggle in the alley.

"It leads one to surmise more and more that the bag was put there but for what reason we don't know," he said.

A Facebook page set up to help in the hunt for Jill has had a number of postings from women talking about attempted abductions in the area although none has been reported to police.

Jill Meagher moved to Australia with her husband three years ago.