Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has announced that no survivors are expected from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 jet, as Australian and Chinese aircraft search for objects picked up in satellite images of the southern Indian Ocean.

Najib Razak said in a statement that he had received a briefing from the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), which presented new satellite data of the aircraft’s flight path from Inmarsat.

"Based on their new analysis, Inmarsat and AAIB have concluded that MH370 flew along the southern corridor, and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth," Razak said.

"This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean."

"This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean."

He added that Malaysia Airlines has spoken to the families of passengers and crew to let them know of this development.

In addition, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said a Royal Australian Air Force P-3 Orion has located two objects in the search zone, 2,500km south-west of Perth.

The first object was grey or green and circular; while the second one was orange and rectangular.

Separately, one of two Chinese IL-76 aircraft observed two large objects, along with several smaller ones scattered across several square kilometres on the search zone, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei was quoted by Associated Press as saying that the authorities could capture at least one of the objects, a white, square-shaped object, on a camera aboard the plane.

To confirm that the newly found objects belong to MH370, China has redirected the Chinese icebreaker Xuelong, or Snow Dragon for the search mission, with six other Chinse ships directed toward the search zone along with 20 fishing vessels, Lei said.

Abbott added that the newly spotted objects were different from those found by a Chinese plane.

The focus of the multinational search for the Malaysian aircraft, which vanished off radar screens on 8 March, shifted to an area of southern Indian Ocean after Australia’s satellite imagery observed suspicious debris in waters, about 2,400km from Perth.

Defence Technology