The deaths of two female hikers on Victoria’s highest mountain is a tragic reminder of its perilous and unforgiving conditions, and re-inforces the need to be well prepared, according to police and experienced mountain hikers.

As of yesterday afternoon police were still yet to formally identify the two women, aged in their 20s to 30s, whose bodies were recovered from an isolated hiking area on Mt Bogong on Saturday morning.

Speaking outside Bright Police Station on Saturday afternoon, Inspector Paul Hargreaves said the deaths were not being treated as suspicious and would be referred to the coroner.

He said it was “likely the two women had succumbed to the weather conditions...suffering severe hypothermia leading to their deaths”.

Inspector Hargreaves said there had been some “exceptionally hard, blizzard” weather conditions in the area over the past two to three days, with temperature dropping to minus 2.8 degrees, winds up to 83km/h and some snowfall.

He said police were uncertain how long the women had been there, but it could have been several days.

Two medical doctors who were returning from a few days’ hike discovered the bodies of the women, lying near each other with equipment strewn closeby, and had called Triple Zero (000) around 12.50pm on Friday.

Uniform police officers, along with the Search and Rescue Squad and Air Wing, and SES members made their way to the scene on Friday but had to camp the night to wait for more favourable weather conditions.

Mount Bogong Club president Keith Jackson told the Alpine Observer the doctors, who were club members, said weather conditions were blowy and “pretty extreme” on Friday and didn’t allow them to spend any length of time at the scene.

The women were in an open area, fully exposed to the elements on the snow scoured ridge line at Lendenfeld Point, located between Summit Hut and Cleve Cole Hut.

Mr Jackson said given the remoteness of the area, the women may have been lost, as visibility in some of the prevailing conditions late in the week would have reduced visibility to only metres.

He said while exact circumstances of the tragedy were still not known, it put a spotlight on mountain safety, particularly as more people were visiting each year.

He said in addition to suitable equipment, clothing and supplies, people shouldn’t rely on their phones, should consider taking an emergency beacon and leave information of the travel plans and return times.

Inspector Hargreaves said the area, commonly frequented by outback adventurers, is arduous to get to and if you do not have the right equipment it can become very dangerous.

He said people hiking in that area need to be well prepared and equipped, fully aware of the conditions and how quickly they can change, and it is also advisable to record your details in the log books provided on the track.