CANBERRA, March 19 -- The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said on Wednesday that the search operation on Tuesday has found no result relevant to the missing Malaysian Airline Flight MH370 while Wednesday's search has been conducted in a smaller area closer to the Western Australian coast.

John Young, general manager of AMSA's Emergency Response Division, said one P-3 Orion aircraft of Royal Australian Air Force conducted the search on Tuesday, covering about 65,000 square km, which is about one tenth of the 600,000 search area established by AMSA on Monday.

Young said three ships passed the area and responded to a broadcast to shipping issued by AMSA's Rescue Coordination Center Australia on Monday night. Neither the ships nor the aircraft have reported sighting anything in connection to the aircraft.

"The search condition was good. The search crew saw marine lives as they were flying through. So we know we can make sightings. There was no result that is relevant to the search," he said.

The United States National Transportation Safety Board refined the two possible routes by the missing Malaysian plane based on " better, more detailed" analysis on the plane's fuel reserves. Based on the new routes, the search area was significantly refined.

The new area is about 300,000 square km, about half the size of Tuesday's search area. It is also a little way east, about 2,600 km to Perth, capital of Western Australia.

Young said the second day of the search under Australia's coordination saw four aircraft involved, including two Australian P-3 Orion aircraft, one New Zealand P3-K Orion aircraft and one U. S.P-8 Poseidon aircraft.

Meanwhile, one ship is in the area on Wednesday and another ship is expected to arrive on Thursday afternoon.

"A much better search opportunity today smaller area, closer to Perth and more aircraft. I hope it will do better tomorrow when we expect to have four to five aircraft," Young said.