The search is continuing for a fourth person believed to have died after a small plane plunged into the ocean off the Victorian coast.
The bodies of two men and a woman have been retrieved from water just off Barwon Heads, near Geelong, but police have confirmed a fourth man was also on the light passenger plane.
"We believe there is a fourth (person)," Inspector Graham Banks told reporters in Queenscliff earlier on Friday.
A fisherman witnessed the plane, which took off from Moorabbin Airport, crash into the water about 12.30pm on Friday, where it remains submerged about 30m below the water, police say.
There was no distress call made by the aircraft.
A 68-year-old Noble Park man, a 63-year-old Black Rock woman, a 65-year-old Black Rock man and a 55-year-old Mordialloc man were on board the aircraft, police confirmed.
The three recovered bodies are being kept on a police boat at the location as police await the arrival of Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) experts.
It is unclear which of the male victims is still missing, as police are yet to identify the bodies.
On Friday afternoon the car park of the Queenscliff boat ramp was filled with local police, SES, water police and search and rescue teams, who continued to comb the shore and wade through water, gathering debris which may point to the cause of the crash.
The search zone is about 200 square metres, but may increase as the tide changes.
Victoria Police spokeswoman Creina O'Grady said the rescue effort would halt at nightfall.
The main body of the plane is expected to be brought to shore on Saturday.
Insp Banks said they were yet to establish whether the plane, which crashed about 2km off Collendina Beach - which runs between Point Lonsdale and Barwon Heads - was a private or a tourist aircraft.
The fisherman, who was just one kilometre from the crash, was still "extremely distressed", Insp Banks said.
Police wouldn't say where the plane had been heading.
"We would have to hope the identifications of these persons and the next of kin are notified before nightfall. That is what we hope to do," Insp Banks said.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau will arrive from Canberra on Saturday to investigate the crash site.
