New details on Esther Wallace tragedy at Mt Canobolas, Orange emerge

Esther Wallace was reported missing about 8am on November 30. A companion said they were separated just after midnight while "watching the sunrise" near Federal Falls, Mount Canobolas.

Following an exhaustive multi-agency search, the 47-year-old's body was found on December 11 in thick bush adjacent to Boree Creek - about two kilometres from where she was last seen.

At an impromptu press conference on Monday afternoon acting-Chief Inspector Gerard Lawson revealed Ms Wallace had no obvious injuries, and may have died of hypothermia.

Temperatures in Orange sat at about 8.3 degrees Celsius when the woman disappeared, but dropped below freezing later in the week.

Police believe clothing recovered during the search may have been shed due to 'paradoxical undressing' - a phenomena where critically cold people experience hot flushes and strip-off.

Speculation has been rife since the disappearance, with police saying: "I would caution the community [about what they think might have happened."

Questions have centred around why the duo was in the area and how Wallace became lost - with doubt cast on the official timeline's plausibility.

Morning breaks about 5.40am in Orange during December. The sunrise cannot be seen from Federal Falls, which sits on the mountain's western slope.

Chief Inspector Gerard Lawson reiterated the death is not being treated as suspicious, but would not be drawn into discussion about the story given by her companion.

"People do bizarre things ... [the sunrise explanation] was something we asked questions about early in the piece, but it's just something that people sometimes do," Chief inspector Lawson said.

"I've been doing this for 35 years, you can't account for everyone's behaviour ... people do things that I wouldn't do but that doesn't mean they don't think it's valid."

In separate comments he suggested the couple may have had a "disagreement" over how to leave the track, but did not elaborate.

Sources close to the search report the body was found partially-clothed in "near-impenetrably thick" bush. Several searchers were injured during the operation due to treacherous terrain.

Investigators do not believe the death was suspicious or Ms Wallace took her own life. The area she was found reportedly suggests she may have become lost.

This is a developing story and will be updated when more information becomes available.

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