Two pieces of debris that could belong to missing flight MH370 have arrived in Australia for testing after they were found washed up on the coast of Mozambique.

The two pieces arrived in Canberra on Sunday and work will begin soon to determine if they are linked to the Malaysia Airlines flight that vanished on March 8, 2014 with 239 people, including six Australians on board, an Australian Transport Safety Bureau spokesman told AAP.

The items will be examined by Australian and Malaysian investigators as well as specialists from Boeing, Geoscience Australia and the Australian National University.

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Federal Transport Minister Darren Chester has assured loved ones of those on board the aircraft the examination would be thorough, but did not give a time frame for when an outcome would be reached.

“These are items of interest but, because of the rigorous analysis to be performed, it is not possible to speculate on how long it might take to reach any conclusions,” Mr Chester said.

A South African teenager Liam Lotter found one of the pieces, with “676EB” stamped on it, while on holiday in Mozambique with his family last December, but did not contact authorities until after a second piece of possible MH370 debris was found in early March.

The second piece, with the words “NO STEP” on it, was discovered by American lawyer Blaine Gibson, who has been self-funding his own private search for the plane.

So far only a piece of wing, known as a flaperon, discovered in July on the island of Reunion has been confirmed as being from the missing Boeing 777.