The cause of Matthew Perry's death remains uncertain, and it has been "deferred" pending further investigation.

Reports from the LA Times and TMZ, which initially broke the news of the Friends actor's passing, indicated that he was discovered unresponsive in a hot tub at his residence on Saturday.

Although a post-mortem examination yielded inconclusive results, officials are awaiting the outcome of toxicology tests.

An LA Police spokesperson confirmed to CBS News that there were no apparent signs of trauma.

The LA County Medical Examiner's office updated their file on Sunday to say the case had been deferred.

This usually means that the post-mortem is complete but more detail is needed.

On Sunday, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department informed the BBC that first responders had been dispatched to an address in the Pacific Palisades area due to a "water emergency" of an unspecified nature but did not disclose Matthew Perry's name.

Matthew Perry, the renowned actor who portrayed the wisecracking Chandler Bing on the immensely popular '90s TV sitcom Friends, passed away at the age of 54.

Friends, a show that followed the lives of six young friends living in New York City, was broadcast from 1994 until 2004. Its final episode attracted 52.5 million viewers in the United States, making it the most-watched TV episode of the 2000s.

Despite his fame, Perry grappled with addiction to painkillers and alcohol during that time and sought treatment in rehabilitation centers on several occasions.

In a 2016 interview with BBC Radio 2, he disclosed that he could not recollect three years of filming Friends due to issues related to alcohol and drugs.