Woman, ex-partner believed dead in unit fire

A woman and her former partner are feared dead after a suspicious fire gutted a unit south of Brisbane on Monday.

Chief Superintendent Brian Swan said police were unable to find a man and a woman, both 49, believed to have been in the unit, in Myola Street at Browns Plains.

Emergency services were called before 4am to the fire, which police later said was being treated as suspicious.

Superintendent Swan said extensive damage would delay the search for the pair. He described the unit as a difficult and complex scene after the blaze.