The corpse was found outside the Door Store shop on Wardlaw Street, just off Gorgie Road, at around 2am.

Police cordoned off the area and taped off nearby wheelie bins. Officers carried out door-to-door inquiries and are thought to have taken CCTV footage from nearby Gorgie businesses.

Caroline Wilkie, 29, a claims management advisor whose first-floor Wardlaw Street flat overlooks the scene, said: "We looked down at about 6.30am and saw all the police cars and tape. At first we thought it was an incident across the road, then we looked down and saw the scene below us.

"We heard absolutely nothing at all. There are quite often fights down this way at night that are quite loud, but there was nothing that we heard. It's always quite shocking when something like this happens on your doorstep."

Peter McCrone, manager of the Door Store, said: "I just got in and saw my door taped off."

Police said later there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death and that a report would be submitted to the procurator fiscal.