What appeared to be a woman’s body found in a suitcase by the side of a road near Goulburn in regional New South Wales was in fact a lifelike doll with markings resembling bruises and grazes, police say.

NSW police said they were called to Wolgon Road in Oallen about 12.50pm on Sunday “following reports a body had been located”.

Officers travelled to the remote location and located what was believed to be the body in the suitcase.

A police statement declaring a “a body in a suitcase” had been found was issued to media on Sunday night, leading to widespread coverage.

But on Monday morning Supt Linda Bradbury told a press conference that police now did not “have a suspicious death of a human on our hands”.

“Following forensic examinations this morning,” police later wrote in a statement, “police confirmed the item located in the bag was a life like doll, wearing clothing, with hair and a nose piercing. The item also had markings that resembled bruises and grazes.

“Investigations have concluded.”

Bradbury said it was good practice not to disturb crime scenes, which is why it took some time to determine the remains were not human. Bad weather was also a factor, she said.

“We don’t like to disturb them too much in situ, particularly when we have faced inclement weather, as we did yesterday and again today,” she said.

Bradbury said they were “very realistic in terms of looking like human remains”.

“But we’ve confirmed by other means that they are not.

“We don’t have a suspicious death of a human on our hands.”

Earlier on Monday, Bradbury had told Channel Nine the “female remains have been subject to a state of decomposition”.

“We’re conducting a number of inquiries to assist us in locating the identification of the female and also how she ended up in that location.

“We are relying a lot on forensic evidence.”

The discovery was made by two men who had pulled on to the side of the road by chance, Bradbury said.

“They were able to tell us how they had come across it,” she added.

“They were on a weekend drive, as a lot of people do over the weekend, and stopped for a break. [It was] quite a shocking discovery for them, absolutely.”

A crime scene was established and the suitcase was “seized to undergo forensic examination while detectives commence an investigation into the incident”.

Oallen is in the southern tablelands region of NSW, about 75km north-east of Canberra and 185km south-west of Sydney.