The families of two women murdered in one of Australia's most notorious cold cases are hoping for closure as their accused killer awaits his next court date.

Nearly 48 years after two women were stabbed to death in their Melbourne home, the man accused of carrying out the killings has been charged and faced court for the first time.

Kouroumblis was arrested at Rome’s Leonardo Da Vinci Airport in September over the alleged slaying of Suzanne Armstrong, 28, and Susan Bartlett, 27, in January 1977. Dubbed the “Easey Street murders”, the friends were found dead with more than two dozen stab wounds in their home on Easey Street in Collingwood in Melbourne’s inner north.

After arriving on a late-night flight under police guard, Perry Kouroumblis is set to face court later today over the alleged double murder of two Melbourne women in 1977.

The siblings of Easey St victims Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett have come face to face with their accused killer as he fronted court on Australian soil for the first time.

A man wanted over Australian cold case murders has been extradited from Rome almost 47 years after the brutal killings.

Perry Kouroumblis, who is wanted over Melbourne's 1977 Easey Street murders, is expected to arrive back in the city on Tuesday evening, after being extradited from Italy.

Charges have been laid over one of Australia's most high-profile cold case murders, with a man extradited from Italy charged with rape and two counts of murder.

"It was an absolutely gruesome, horrific, frenzied homicide," police said after Perry Kouroumblis was arrested.

A man wanted over one of Australia's most infamous cold cases, dubbed the Easey Street murders, is on his way back to the country after being extradited from Italy. Suzanne Armstrong, 27, and Susan Bartlett,