After a difficult landing on Late Island, a nine man Tongan search party is returning home this afternoon after conducting a land search for two Australian sailors who remain missing after their yacht Navillus was wrecked off the island on Thursday night last week.

Tonga's Acting Police Commissioner Taniela Faletau said this afternoon that the search party led by a police officer from Vava'u had spent two days checking the island.

"We have no positive indications yet," he said.

"It is very difficult terrain. There is no landing area and we got eight people from Hunga who know the island and do some gardening there. The search team actually made a splash landing and climbed the cliffs on the northern side yesterday."

He said the search party had now been taken off the island successfully by the motor launch "Escapade" and he expected that the search co-ordinating officer would arrive back in Neiafu at about 5:00pm today to file their report.

Tonga Police will prepare an assessment for the Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Wellington, New Zealand, before any further decisions to either continue or to scale down the search would be made, he said.

"We will see what is planned, but given the circumstances that it is more than four days, the likelihood of finding the men is pretty slim."

Pieces of the yacht were found by search vessels on Friday and Saturday, including a box containing a liferaft.

The Acting Police Commissioner said that while it might appear that one liferaft had not been deployed it was not clear how many liferafts or lifeboats the yacht was carrying.

People listening to the search on the marine radio in Vava'u over the last few days say that the search vessels had encountered heavy swells and rough passage in the area. The wind had reduced to 15 knots today.