Detective Senior Sergeant Damon Wells said a post-mortem examination confirmed it was Warrington, who had been missing since July 10.
Warrington's death is not being treated as suspicious and police were continuing to make inquiries on behalf of the Coroner, he said.
"Police would like to thank those who assisted by providing information, or helped with both the formal and informal searches for Shirley."
The New Zealand Herald previously reported there was nothing strange about Shirley and husband Wally Warrington's decision to go for a drive on July 10.
They left their Burwood home and at 7.30pm, the Warringtons were stopped at Rolleston by police, driving slowly on State Highway 1 towards Christchurch with their headlights on full beam, and well under the speed limit.
They were doing nothing wrong, but the police would have been remiss not to pull them over in the circumstances.
After a quick chat, the Warringtons were back on the road.
At 8.34pm their car was captured on CCTV camera on Ferry Rd - Wally driving and Shirley in the front passenger seat.
At 10.19pm another camera picked the car up near the Ferrymead Bridge.
This time, there was no Shirley.
Stuff reported that the pair had got lost and Shirley Warrington may have got out of the car to seek help with directions.
Wally apparently fell asleep and when he awoke and she hadn't returned, he began driving around looking for her.
Extensive searches were undertaken in the following days, then scaled back, before the body was found this week.
In a cruel twist for the family, Wally died only two days before his wife's body was found.
He was deeply distressed over his wife’s disappearance. He died on Saturday and Shirley’s body was found on Monday.
Their granddaughter Aleisha Hofman said previously it has been a very difficult experience for her and the family.
