A specialist deep-sea machine has captured images of a pilot and his photographer passenger still in the cockpit of a light plane which crashed into southeast Tasmanian waters.
The single-engine Cessna was found just after midday on Wednesday, upturned on the sandy ocean floor at Cape Raoul off the Tasman Peninsula at a depth of 88 metres, police said.
Sam Langford, 29, was at the controls of the plane while photographer Tim Jones, 61, captured photos of Sydney to Hobart yacht race competitors.
At about 6.20pm on Monday it was seen to bank and then plunge nose-first into the water.
A wide-scale search has been underway since and specialist remote-controlled equipment was brought in from Victoria, fitted with cameras and deployed on Wednesday.
"Because of the quality of images we were able to retrieve we're certain there are two people in the cockpit and we believe they are the people who went missing," Acting Assistant Police Commissioner Tony Cerritelli told reporters.
Retrieval crews have started dragging the aircraft along the seabed to a position where it can be hoisted beneath a police boat so divers can remove the bodies.
The Cessna is still intact but is fragile and its retrieval is yet to be confirmed.
"We will get a better idea of what transpired leading up to the crash once our divers get in there and have a closer inspection," Mr Cerritelli said of the circumstances surrounding the crash.
The retrieval process could take some time and the acting assistant commissioner said weather conditions during the operation so far have been kind.
"We do want to make sure we can wrap this up before weather conditions deteriorate," he said.
Police divers will need to preserve and collect evidence for the coroner.
"It's a delicate operation and we clearly are concerned about the plane breaking up," Mr Cerritelli said.
"We've been able to secure the plane on ties and are slowly moving it ... to enable our divers to get down to a depth of around 30 metres so they can collect evidence and eventually retrieve the two people from the cockpit."
Police said families of the two men are distraught and have asked for privacy as they deal with their grief.
Aircraft owner Airlines of Tasmania managing director Shannon Wells said the company is devastated to hear confirmation of the deaths.
"Both men were highly regarded within their industries," Ms Wells said.
"We'll all be worse off without their presence."
She praised police and rescue volunteers for their efforts.
Seven Sydney to Hobart yachts diverted from their course to the finish line to assist in the search, including Mistraal which was just 300m from where the aircraft ditched, and raised the alarm with authorities.
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