Australian authorities have confirmed that the metal object found on the south-western Australia coastline does not belong to the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) observed the photographs of the unidentified material found by a member of the public on a beach 300km south of Perth.

The images of the object were also sent to Malaysian authorities.

ATSB chief Martin Dolan told ABC News that the authorities have carefully examined detailed photographs that were taken by the police, and are satisfied that it is not a lead in terms of the search for MH370.

"We’re not seeing anything in this that would lead us to believe that it is from a Boeing aircraft."

"We’re not seeing anything in this that would lead us to believe that it is from a Boeing aircraft," Dolan said.

The latest development comes shortly after the suspension of the air and underwater search due to bad weather conditions.

The Beijing-bound Boeing 777 aircraft disappeared about seven weeks ago only an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board.

More than a dozen countries have been scouring the southern Indian Ocean for traces of the aircraft.

A US Navy mini-submarine has already covered more than 80% of a 310km² search area in the southern Indian Ocean, but could not find any sign of MH370 debris.

Ten military aircraft and 12 ships are taking part in the search programme.

Defence Technology