Kylie Minogue's breast cancer is in 'full remission', her sister Dannii has revealed.

The Australian singer, who was diagnosed with the disease last May, is well on the road to a complete recovery, her sister told her own official website.

Replying to a fan who wrote about her mother's cancer, fellow singer Dannii, 34, wrote: 'My best news to start the new year, is that my sister has had her "Full Remission" too!

'Last year was a difficult year for many people - I'm just happy that we have a close family and could all support each other.'

Being in remission is the best news Kylie could hope for at this early stage.

It means tests have shown her body is free of cancer, but it is not a guarantee that she is cured. Sufferers are only given the all-clear when they have been in remission for five years.

Kylie, 37, is in Australia where she has been quietly celebrating the good news with her family.

The star had a partial mastectomy to remove a lump from her left breast when the cancer was first discovered.

She then had six months of chemotherapy at the renowned Gustave-Roussy Institute in Paris, where she lived with French boyfriend Olivier Martinez.

She has also had an operation to freeze some of her eggs to try to ensure that she can one day have children.

Martin Ledwick, of Cancer Research UK, said: 'Remission means that scans and tests have shown there are no signs of cancer in the patient.

'This does not guarantee that the cancer is cured but the longer the patient remains in remission the less likely it is that the cancer will come back.'

Since returning to Australia three weeks ago, Kylie has continued to undergo radiotherapy as a precaution to prevent the cancer, which is often particularly aggressive in women of her age, from returning.

She has been attending a Melbourne hospital five days a week for ten-minute doses of the treatment, normally accompanied by her mother, Carol. Last weekend Kylie thrilled locals near her parents' country home on French Island, two hours north of Melbourne, by going for a walkabout in the sunshine with her parents and their dog.

She spent the weekend on the island, accessible only by ferry, with her mother, father Ron, brother Brendan and his pregnant wife. Her actor boyfriend is believed to be in Los Angeles working.

A source close to Kylie said yesterday: 'The whole family is thrilled but they are all aware that it could come back.

'Kylie is keen to get the radiotherapy over with and then try and concentrate on getting her life back together.'

The singer has already said she plans to reschedule the Australian dates of her Showgirl Tour - which she cancelled when the cancer was discovered - at the end of the year.

It also is widely anticipated that she will have more to celebrate - friends are hoping that Martinez will propose to the woman he has nursed throughout illness.