Tony Abbott 'very confident' signals detected are from MH370 black boxes

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said he is 'very confident' signals detected in the search for missing MH370 jet are from the plane's black boxes.

In a press conference in China, Abbott said a 'series of detections' from the towed pinger locator aboard the Australian search vessel ADV Ocean Shield had enabled authorities to narrow the search area significantly.

Abbott added that he was very confident the signals detected are from MH370's black box.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, soon after Abbott's press conference, Air Chief Marshal (ret) Angus Houston, the head of the search's Joint Agency Coordination Centre, revealed that an initial assessment of the possible signal detected by a RAAF AP-3C Orion aircraft on Thursday afternoon were related to an aircraft underwater locator beacon.

He also did not give any indications that the black boxes were any closer to being found.

Houston added that there has been no major breakthrough in the search for MH370.