New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinta Ardern says victims' bodies were being returned to families starting tonight, a process that would be completed by Wednesday.
Victim identification staff had been flown in from Australia to speed up the process.
The suspect has been identified Brenton Harrison Tarrant and appeared in court yesterday charged with one count of murder.
He was handcuffed and wearing a white prison jumpsuit when he quietly walked into the courtroom.
He did not enter a plea, but made a hand gesture associated with white supremacists.
The attack which was broadcast live for a time on social media, is the deadliest mass killing in New Zealand since 1943.
Ardern labeled the carnage a terrorist attack and has vowed to change the country's gun laws as a result.
