Malaysia Airlines has told relatives of those on board missing flight MH370 to move out of the hotels they have been staying in since it disappeared and go home.

It also says it will close the family assistance centres it set up next Wednesday. The aircraft vanished almost two months ago with no trace of it since.

The final audio exchanges between the cockpit of flight MH370 and Kuala Lumpur air traffic control has also been released.

Malaysian officials released the audio recording more than 50 days after the plane disappeared.

Earlier this week, the Australian Prime Minister said it is "highly unlikely" debris from the missing flight will ever be found on the ocean surface.

Tony Abbott said the hunt for the Malaysia Airlines jet will now shift away from visual searches by boats and planes and focus on underwater operations using sophisticated sensors.

The search area had been narrowed to where officials believed the plane's black box flight recorder was and where they thought they would find some wreckage.

This is to be widened to include a larger area of the Indian Ocean floor, which could take up to eight months to search thoroughly.