The body of a woman has been found in a suitcase by the side of a road south of Goulburn in regional New South Wales.

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

Officers travelled to the remote location and located the body in the suitcase.

It was yet to be formally identified, a police spokesperson said on Sunday night.

“Unfortunately, the female remains have been subject to a state of decomposition,” Supt Linda Bradbury told Channel 9 on Monday morning.

“We’re conducting a number of enquiries 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 onto the side of the road by chance, Bradbury said.

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

“Unfortunately 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”.

Police did not immediately reveal how long the body may have been at the location.

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