SYDNEY (Reuters) - Friends and fans on Sunday mourned Australian rock legend Michael Hutchence whose sudden death in an exclusive Sydney hotel remained a mystery. Flowers, cards and burning candles were placed on the pavement outside the Ritz-Carlton in the harbourside suburb of Double Bay where the lead singer for INXS died on Saturday. Police on Sunday for the first time confirmed that the 37-year-old man found dead in the hotel was Hutchence. They said the singer had made a phone call to a friend at 9 a.m. (2200 GMT), three hours before he was found dead by a hotel employee, helping police to pinpoint the time of his death. But a police spokeswoman refused to comment on reports that Hutchence had been hanging from his own belt, saying only that it was "now a matter for the coroner". Police have confirmed that a leather belt was taken from room 524 of the Ritz-Carlton for forensic examination, but said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death. A post-mortem is scheduled for Monday. Hutchence`s fellow band members said they were "in extreme shock" at the death of their frontman. INXS, pronounced In Excess, had been together, its line-up unchanged, since 1977 and had been preparing for its 20th anniversary tour.

In a statement, the band asked for the privacy of the singer`s family and for their own privacy to be respected. Hutchence`s partner, Paula Yates, with whom he had a 15-month-old daughter, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily, left London late on Saturday for Sydney. She was due to arrive early on Monday morning. The couple had a highly public relationship after Yates split with former husband Bob Geldof and Hutchence had said they were planning to marry next January on the Tahitian island of Bora Bora.