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Man dangles from roof after woman's body found in Sydney alleyway

A distressed man remains perched on a balcony roof of a high-rise building in Sydney's north, hours after the discovery of a woman's body on the ground below.

The body of the woman, reportedly aged in her 20s, was discovered about 6.30am on Monday off Brown Street near Chatswood's main shopping strip.

Shortly after her body was found the man appeared on the balcony roof of the residential building.

A translator has been brought in to help negotiate with the Korean national, who has refused to come down from the awning.

With the temperature in Sydney hitting 29C, negotiators handed the man a cigarette and a bottle of water just after 11am but have been unable to coax him inside, a NSW Police spokesman told AAP.

The site has been cordoned off as police negotiators - including a Korean speaker - continue to negotiate with the man at the top of the building which is at least 15 storeys high.

A tent has been erected around the woman's body which is directly below the man.

Exactly how she died remains unknown at this point as police continue to investigate her death.

Police are on site investigating but there are no more details at this stage, a NSW police spokesman said.

Earlier reports suggested the woman's body had been found on a vacant block of land.

A large crowd gathered near the scene around lunchtime with the man still refusing to come down. Source: AAP

As lunchtime crowds gathered to watch in the busy shopping strip, police cordoned off more of the public space below the high-rise building.

Rohan Pulakhandam who works at the nearby Hoyts cinema saw the man just after 11am.

"As soon as I saw the man it was just gut-wrenching," Mr Pulakhandam told AAP.

"The fact that he's been sitting for so long in the heat with the sun shining directly on him - he mustn't be feeling very good."