The Chinese consulate in Perth is quiet at the moment. But that may change in the coming days as relatives from Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 start to arrive in Australia.

Overnight, Malaysian authorities officially confirmed what many had been thinking for days now: that the flight carrying 239 passengers - most of whom were Chinese - and a crew of 12 had crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

The late-night flight from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, to Beijing departed on time on March 8 and should have taken around six hours.