A 41-year-old man will appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court today charged with the rape and murder of ABC employee Jill Meagher.

Police investigating the disappearance of Ms Meagher found her body at the side of a road at Gisborne South, about 50km north-west of Melbourne.

Adrian Ernest Bayley, from Coburg, made a brief appearance in an out-of-sessions court hearing at 2:30am (AEST) and was remanded in custody to appear again later today.

His arrest follows an investigation that began nearly a week ago, when Ms Meagher failed to return home after a night out with work mates in Brunswick.

ABC reporter James Bennett attended Bayley's bail hearing:

Bayley stared straight ahead as the bail justice explained to him that the allegations of rape and murder he was now facing meant she could not grant him bail.

Asked if he wanted the charges read to him, Bayley meekly replied: "No, that's fine."
When she asked him if he understood the charges that he was facing, he answered "yes" in a barely audible whisper.

Police held a late-night media briefing following Bayley's arrest.

ABC Melbourne journalist Hamish Fitzsimmons told ABC's Lateline that CCTV vision made public on Wednesday played a major role in the arrest.

In the vision Ms Meagher can be seen talking to a man wearing a blue hooded jumper as she walked along Sydney Road in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Police also said the extensive social media campaign to find Ms Meagher had helped in the investigation.