A 36-year-old man, Brandon Osborn, has been charged with murder after allegedly admitting he shot his girlfriend at the couple's home in north-west Victoria.
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The body of council worker Karen Belej, 31, was found at the Montana Avenue house in Cardross, near Mildura, shortly after 7.30pm on Sunday.
Police took Mr Osborn into custody soon after.
Mr Osborn appeared at an out-of-sessions bail hearing at Mildura Police Station on Tuesday night dressed in grey tracksuit pants, a dark jumper and black shoes.
Homicide squad Detective Senior Constable Simon Quinnell told the hearing Mr Osborn admitted to police during a recorded interview that he shot Ms Belej on Sunday.
The hearing lasted only two minutes, during which Mr Osborn did not apply for bail and answered "no" quietly when bail justice Bernard Denner asked whether he had any welfare or medical issues.
A title search of the house where Ms Belej was found showed she jointly owned the property with Mr Osborn before it was transferred into her name in 2012 due to the "breakdown of a relationship".
Ms Belej was a human resources officer at Mildura council, where she was leading a push for the council office to become a White Ribbon-accredited workplace as part of a campaign against domestic violence.
Mildura mayor Glenn Milne said that council staff were "hurting" after learning of Ms Belej's death.
"Under the circumstances, it's just an absolute tragedy and it will take a long time to get over, because when people turn left and right there will be a space there, and they'll all know why the space is there, and that will be hard to deal with for quite some time," he said on Monday.
Mr Osborn was remanded in custody to face a filing hearing at Mildura Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
