The burned body found in rural South Auckland this morning has been confirmed as a man, who could be as young as 15.

Police received a call from a member of the public at 6.30am and the body was discovered about 5m off the side of the northern end of McRobbie Rd, in Kingseat.

This afternoon police confirmed the deceased was a man between the ages of 15 and 30, 75-90 kilogrammes and was between 178 and 193 centimetres tall.

Two fire crews attended and quickly extinguished the small fire, although they were said to be still dampening down hot spots around 9am.

A police spokeswoman said identification experts had removed the body and an autopsy would be completed about 2pm.

"A post mortem this afternoon is going to give us a further indication of whether we're looking at an accident, a self-inflicted injury or otherwise," Detective Inspector Dave Lynch said.

The body was found in an isolated 25 square-metre fire and Lynch said the state in which it was found might make swift identification problematic.

Police were unsure as to the circumstances of the death but Lynch hoped to get a sex and approximate age from the pathologist soon.

From there, they would look to match that with missing persons reports in a bid to establish identity.

Word among neighbours was that the dead man was a former resident in the area but police could not confirm that.

Mary Clarke, who lives on the street the body was found, said she smelled smoke early in the morning but thought nothing of it.

She was shocked something like that had happened on the quiet, rural street.

- © Fairfax NZ News