Kylie Minogue's comeback began yesterday with the announcement that she will hold her Australian homecoming tour at the end of 2006.

The singer cancelled her Showgirl: The Greatest Hits tour days before it was due to start in May when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The 37-year-old, who has had 27 hit singles in Britain, also scrapped the rest of her world tour and a headline appearance at this year's Glastonbury festival.

She was told she needed an immediate operation at a hospital in her home city of Melbourne to remove the growth. Doctors later said the surgery was a success.

Yesterday, her Australian tour promoter, Frontier Touring Company, said the cancelled tour would be held late in 2006.

Promoter Michael Gudinski said: 'We appreciate the end of next year is a long time away for ticketholders and the option of refunding tickets will remain available to fans.

'Kylie has decided the 2006 version of Showgirl will be varied and updated from the original seen in 2005 as a thank-you for the patience and understanding of Australian ticketholders.' The star is currently in Paris with boyfriend Olivier Martinez completing a series of gruelling chemotherapy.

She is thought to have had eggs extracted and frozen because of fears that the chemotherapy could have prevented her from having the children she wants.

The Australian press predicted new dates at outdoor venues might have to be added to the original schedule to cope with demand for tickets.

But Minogue, whose final treatment is on December 18, has been told by doctors she will miss Christmas at home with her family because she must wait for further tests on her white blood cell count.

She may now have to wait until mid-January before she can leave Paris.