The 24-year-old was last seen by friends at a bus stop outside the University of Technology on April 21.

Dressed in a long-sleeved shirt, with jeans and carrying a red bag, she told them she was going shopping at Myer in Sydney's CBD, according to a missing person's report circulated by her friends and relatives on social media.

Police now believe the missing student is the woman whose body was discovered by a tourist at the Snapper Point blowhole at the Lake Munmorah National Park on the central coast on Sunday morning.

She was naked and had been stabbed multiple times in the neck.

She had no jewellery, no personal items and no tattoos, and remained unidentified for three days.

It is understood police made contact with the woman's family earlier in the week and had gathered evidence, including the woman's toothbrush and hair samples, for a DNA comparison.

The DNA match would provide the confirmation that the young woman, who had been missing for almost a week, had likely been murdered and her body dumped in the ocean.

It is understood the woman was a recent graduate of UTS where she had studied hospitality management.

Homicide detectives are now trawling through evidence, including CCTV footage around the national park and items retrieved from the water by police divers, to determine how the woman's body came to be dumped more than 100 kilometres from Sydney's CBD, where she was last in contact with friends.

"We are getting a pretty good understanding of what occurred in that area during that time," Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin said on Wednesday.

More than three days after her body was discovered - as detectives worked to identify her - her family still hoped their missing daughter would be found safe.

When she failed to return from her shopping trip last Thursday, they began circulating a missing person's report on Chinese social media sites, calling for the local Chinese community to help find the UTS business graduate.

Several days later, over the Anzac Day long weekend, NSW police began receiving missing person reports for the woman.

Then, on Sunday morning a tourist visiting the Lake Munmorah National Park contacted police to report a grisly discovery.

About 10:30am, atop the cliffs at the Snapper Point blowhole, the tourist spotted the body of woman floating face down and naked in the foamy sea.

Homicide detectives immediately took control of the case, but with few identifying clues beyond her physical appearance her identity remained shrouded in mystery.

While an autopsy was underway, the NSW homicide squad released a computer generated image of the young Asian woman who they estimated was aged in her early 20s to mid 30s, about 170 centimetres tall, with a medium build and shoulder-length dark hair.

By Wednesday afternoon, the image had been picked up by Australia-based Chinese-language news sites, who had matched the family's missing persons report with Australian news reports of the unidentified woman.

Later that evening, a police source confirmed they were strongly pursuing the lead while they waited for DNA evidence to be collected during the autopsy process.

As the news unfolded, her friends left messages on her Instagram page, imploring her to make contact and return safely.

By Thursday afternoon, pre-empting the inevitable confirmation of her death by police, the messages changed from concern to grief.

"RIP" one friend wrote, beneath her last Instagram post - a photo of St Mary's church take from Sydney's Hyde Park, posted last Tuesday.