Updated October 7, 2008 02:17:46

The father of missing backpacker Britt Lapthorne has revealed a new lead in the case. [Facebook]

Police in Croatia have confirmed that a body has been found off the coast in Dubrovnik, where Australian backpacker Britt Lapthorne went missing two weeks ago.

But they say the body found off the coast is probably not that of the missing student.

Speaking at a press conference in Dubrovnik, deputy chief of police Ivan Kukrika says to was not unusual to find the bodies of Albanian refugees off the coast of this medieval city.

Mr Kukrika says the body in the ocean appeared to have been there for months not weeks.

At 11am local time, police were told that a body had been found floating in the ocean.

The discovery was made by a local sailor of a cargo ship.

The badly decomposed body was recovered from the water just below the road between the hostel and the night club in Dubrovnik where Ms Lapthorne went missing on September 18.

Father receives lead

The father of the missing Melbourne student earlier revealed the identity of the person who tried to post a passport back to Australia on the day his daughter disappeared in Croatia.

Dale Lapthorne said he received an anonymous telephone call in Croatia, which was translated by an Australian consular official.

He says the man told him that he observed a woman he recognised as the owner of the hostel where Britt Lapthorne was staying.

The informant said the woman was at a post office in Dubrovnik attempting to post a passport to Australia on the day the Melbourne student went missing.

He said she was told she couldn't do that and left with the passport.