Police are fearful for the welfare of the mother of a newborn baby boy whose body was dumped in a shopping bag at a country bus stop.
A lone woman carrying a similar bag, spotted at the scene in northern Victoria the day before, may be the baby's mother, police believe.
Detectives have appealed to the woman to come forward, and say the mother will need medical treatment.
Because the boy's umbilical cord was not surgically cut, police believe the baby was born outside a hospital and may have been stillborn.
Farmer Paul Hughan found the body in Ford Road at Grahamvale at 5.30pm (AEST) on Wednesday when he put his garbage bins out. At first he thought it was rubbish.
After hearing of the discovery, a man contacted police to say he saw a woman in her 20s to 30s with fair hair by herself at the scene between 5pm and 6.45pm on Tuesday, said Detective Sergeant Graham Guy, of the homicide squad.
Det Sgt Guy said the boy's mother would need urgent medical care.
"She's got nothing to fear from us, we just want her to come forward ... we can discuss the issues that went on later," he said.
"It's hard for me to comment about what's going through her mind, quite obviously she was in a pretty stressful situation to do what she's done and these are the issues we would like to get some help for her with."
The case is not being treated as murder, with an autopsy conducted on Thursday proving inconclusive. More tests will be conducted on Friday.
Police want to hear from family members or friends of a pregnant woman with whom they had lost contact, or from hospital or medical staff with any information about the woman's identity.
