Police quash suggestions of murder investigation over Melissa Caddick

Police have quashed suggestions made in court that missing Sydney woman Melissa Caddick has been murdered.

The claim was made as corporate watchdog Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) moved to protect the interest of investors in her company in court today.

Detectives investigating the disappearance of Ms Caddick attended court merely as observers as ASIC continued to dig into the millionaire's business dealings.

During the proceedings a barrister representing Ms Caddick dropped a bombshell declaring the case "was now a murder investigation."

Senior police later issued a statement denying the claim "it remains a missing person case until we have evidence to the contrary."

The 49-year-old mother of one vanished from her Dover Heights home on November 12.

Security cameras in her house failed to capture her leaving as the hard drive had been seized three days earlier by federal agents in a raid on the property on behalf of ASIC.

ASIC lawyers said it had frozen her bank accounts "to protect the interest of investors"

ASIC said in a statement, the company "may be providing financial services without a licence and investor funds may be unlawfully dealt with."