Man fatally shot near Katherine identified

A 36-year-old man remains in custody while detectives investigate the incident. No charges have been laid.

Officers found the dead man's body about 4am on Thursday inside the house, 350km south of Darwin.

"It was a confronting scene," Detective Senior Sergeant Jakson Evans told reporters at a press conference later in the day.

"Police located the body of a male person who was deceased from an apparent gunshot wound."

Det Snr Sgt Evans said officers were called to the house after receiving a report about a male intruder inside the home.

He said the man in custody and a woman and two children were in the home at the time.

The house is located about 30km south of Katherine near the Cutta Cutta Caves Nature Park.

Det Snr Sgt Evans said detectives are also examining whether the incident was linked to an absconder who fled the Venndale Rehabilitation Centre, about 10km south of the caves.

The Venndale facility is a residential drug rehabilitation centre for Indigenous people.