Underwater search operations to locate the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 have recommenced with Australian vessel GO Phoenix beginning its maiden voyage this week.

Over 3,000 square kilometres of the ocean floor has been searched since the flight went missing on March 8. However, efforts to locate the plane, which was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members, have so far proved futile.

Go Phoenix departed Fremantle, on the south coast of Western Australia, on Monday. It will be used to help scour a further 160, 000 square kilometres marked as a "search area."

It joins two other dedicated search vessels, Fugro Discovery and Fugro Equator, in helping to comb through parts of the southern Indian Ocean, where it is believed the flight may have spiralled out of control.

Both Fugro Discovery and Fugro Equator returned to Australian shores last week due to severe weather warnings off the coast of Western Australia. However, Fugro Discovery returned to sea on Monday with Fugro Equator set to rejoin search efforts later in the week.

Ahead of the Australian summer, which begins in December, weather conditions are likely to improve, enabling the three search vessels to spend prolonged periods offshore.

But, the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC), which was established by the Australian government to support the search for flight MH370, has warned that the end might not be near in the search for the missing plane.

"The complexities surrounding the search are immense," the JACC said via a statement on Wednesday. "It involves vast areas of the Indian Ocean with only limited known data and aircraft flight information."

"While it is impossible to determine with certainty where the aircraft may have entered the water, the available data and analysis indicate that the most likely location lies close to a long but narrow arc in the southern Indian Ocean, where the aircraft last communicated with a ground station through a satellite."|

"This is where the aircraft is assessed to have run out of fuel. "

"As previously advised, work continues with refinements to the analysis of the satellite communication system messages, however, no significant changes occurred throughout October."

The three search vessels are hoping to locate any significant evidence, such as aircraft wreckage and flight recorders.

It is expected that the successful identification of any meaningful evidence will assist the Malaysian investigation in its aim to provide a detailed map of a possible debris field.