Australian surfer Peter Luke has died while surfing Scar Reef on Tuesday. Luke, 27-years-old, was surfing large waves off the west Sumbawan reef break when he went missing.

Police in Indonesia said Mr Luke's body was recovered by two friends who were looking for him after he failed to return to their boat they had hired. His friends used the boat to search for him and eventually found his body on a nearby reef.

West Sumbawa police chief Teddy Hendyawan Syarif says the surf at the spot known as Scar Reef was huge on Tuesday.

"The victim's death was caused by a wave smashing into him, which at that time was massive, up to five metres high," he told reporters.

There's been no official cause of death, whether Luke hit the reef, his board, or was drowned is yet to be ascertained. On Monday the largest swell of the year hit the Indonesian coastline with waves up to 15 feet reported at some of Indonesia's exposed breaks.

Luke was born in Warnambool, Victoria, but had settled in northern NSW.