Australian woman Summa Simmonds who drank herself to death in Bali.

It comes as Bali police and morgue officials say that without an autopsy it is impossible to determine the exact cause of death of the 38 year old, whose body will be flown home to Australia on Saturday.

But police say they will not force an autopsy and that they believe there is no crime and that Ms Simmonds died after ingesting a large amount of vodka.

Dr Ida Bagus Putu Alit, the forensic chief at Sanglah hospital morgue, said that the mechanism of death was asphyxia, based on an external examination of the body, but the cause of the asphyxia is unknown.

Police have said there was no sign of methanol poisoning, which can occur after drinking locally-produced arak which can often be distilled into legitimate alcohol bottles.

Dr Alit concurred saying that normally death as a result of methanol takes place eight to 72 hours after ingestion because it takes time for the body to process the methanol, which turns to poison.

Ms Simmonds died in the early hours of last Sunday morning after police allege that she drank up to 27 glasses of vodka in a villa at the luxury Peppers Seminyak, where she was holidaying with two other women.

Summa Simmonds’ passport photo.Source:Supplied

Police scene photos from the night show two empty Absolut vodka bottles, several empty bottles of mixed vodka and a third large bottle of Smirnoff vodka.

But Ms Simmonds’ family and friends dispute that she drank so much or that she was a heavy drinker and have suggested she died of a reaction to the drinks.

Dr Alit said Ms Simmonds’ body arrived at the morgue at 3.40am on Sunday and an external examination was conducted immediately.

“Based on the signs of death, the victim died less than eight hours before we conducted the examination. There was no sigh of violence. There is s sign of suffocation, nails turned bluish, blood spots in the mucous membrane of the eyeball.

“The mechanism of the death is asphyxia. The cause of asphyxia can be various so we need an autopsy to find the cause,” Dr Alit said.

Summa Simmonds, pictured in 2012.Source:News Limited

He said that without an autopsy and laboratory tests it was impossible to say that excessive alcohol or alcohol poisoning caused Ms Simmonds’ death,.

“About that we cannot be sure. We need an autopsy and a laboratory test. Physically we can not be sure because there are many causes of asphyxia. So we can only make a conclusion after we conduct an autopsy and a laboratory test,” Dr Alit said.

He said that ethanol or alcohol can cause death if there is too much of it in a person’s blood.

Badung police chief, Ruddi Setiawan, said Ms Simmonds’ family had requested that no autopsy be conducted in Bali.

“There is no crime in this case. (She died) because she drank too much”, Mr Setiawan said.

Police have said that Ms Simmonds collapsed at her villa and that her two female friends, aged 46 and 20, tried unsuccessfully to revive her. A doctor was called to the villas but Ms Simmonds could not be revived.