Earlier this week, James was discovered encircled by a group of approximately 10 dingoes, leaving authorities puzzled about whether she had drowned or suffered a fatal attack.

“Additional scientific analysis will be necessary following the autopsy,” stated a spokesperson from the Coroners Court.

“The process of obtaining these further results and determining the exact cause of death is expected to take some time,” they added.

“The deceased’s family is being kept informed about the progress of the investigation,” the spokesperson continued.

“Since the coronial inquiry is still in progress, no further details can be disclosed at this moment.”

The potential that dingoes could be responsible has stunned locals and tourists alike.

K’gari dingoes are a protected species due to their potential to become the purest strain of dingo in the country, but attacks have been on the rise recently.

The island has not seen a fatal attack since 2001, when a nine-year-old boy was killed.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has signalled there will be a state response to the findings of the autopsy.

But Indigenous elders claimed they have repeatedly warned the state government that dingoes are growing more dangerous as tourism takes over.

James had been working as a housekeeper at a backpacker campsite on K’gari for the past six weeks with hometown friend Taylor Stricker.

The pair had saved up money for a year so they could travel Australia before returning home in March. 

But on Monday, James went for an early-morning swim before she was found scratched, bitten and surrounded by dingoes on a beach just a few hundred metres away from the campsite.

”She quite often would set her alarm to get up, catch the sunrise, which is what she did that day,” she told 9News.

“I think that’s what she probably got up to do. But she never got the opportunity to.”

James’ father, Todd, said the family was shattered and in pain over her death.

“So many are going to miss you, my precious little baby girl,” he wrote on social media.

“May be gone, but how can we ever forget you?”

Stricker’s mum, Majorie Stricker, said her daughter awoke to “a nightmare”, as the young women were the “very best of inseparable best friends”.

”Piper became far more to our family than just our daughter’s friend. She became part of our family, just as Taylor is part of hers,” she wrote in a social media post.

“From the moment she entered our lives, her light and laughter filled every space.

“She will always be with us, in the seas, the trails, the mountain scapes, the sky and all the sunrises and sunsets that she treasured so much.”