Police have revealed the identity of a woman they say suffered a violent death in a Wellington flat.

She was 42-year-old Allison McPhee, who police describe as a transient, and was living at the Newtown block of flats she was found at on Wednesday.

Preliminary post-mortem results indicate she was the victim of a violent attack and her body could have been at the flat for three to five days. However, Detective Inspector Paul Basham would not go into much more detail about how she died. He says the indications are that a weapon may have been used, but they do not have any indication of what that weapon was.

Detective Inspector Basham says Ms McPhee was known to police, she was unemployed and has not been in contact with any family in a long time.