Police ruled out suicide and established a crime scene at the Wyndham Street house (pictured), where a 43-year-old woman was found on the floor of a shed in the backyard.

Hunter Valley Acting Inspector Sergeant Bill Langdon said an elderly woman lived in the house but he could not confirm whether the dead woman was also a resident.

The elderly woman has been temporarily rehoused to allow investigations to take place.

A family member alerted police after discovering the body about 9am yesterday.

Sergeant Langdon said police were awaiting confirmation of the woman’s identity but believed she may have been the daughter of the woman who lived in the house.

A fingerprint expert was expected to arrive at the scene last night to officially identify the body.

Police scoured the surrounds and questioned neighbours in search of clues yesterday afternoon but wouldn’t reveal any information.

The house, in the rural residential neighbourhood, was cordoned off with police tape and police vans and specialist forensic officers had set up camp outside.

Homicide squad detectives formed a special task force to

investigate the death.

“This is a quiet town and [the crime scene] is a quiet part of a quiet town,” Sergeant Langdon said.

“It is a neighbourhood where the houses are not close together.

“We can’t say why we think she has died.”