The 51-year-old was last seen alive when she went for a run on the morning of February 4.
Ms Murphy's disappearance gripped Victoria and the nation and led to an outpouring of grief in the Ballarat community, with an influx of volunteers joining multiple early efforts to find her.
In March, police charged 23-year-old tradesman Patrick Orren Stephenson with Ms Murphy's murder, but the search for her body continues.
Ms Murphy's disappearance shocked the Ballarat community and led to an outpouring of grief. (Jeremy Bannister/AAP PHOTOS)
Over the past 12 months, extensive searches for her body have taken place with particular focus on the Enfield State Park, Canadian Forest and Buninyong Bushland Reserve.
The most recent effort focused on the Enfield State Forest at Grenville in September 2024.
The location is approximately a 15-minute drive from Buninyong, where Ms Murphy's phone was found in May buried in mud on the edge of an agricultural dam.
Detective Inspector Dave Dunstan said police had worked tirelessly to find the mother of three.
"While nothing can erase their grief and loss, being able to return Samantha to her family has always been incredibly important to us," Det Insp Dunstan said on Sunday.
"I want to reaffirm to the community that the Missing Persons Squad remains committed to doing everything we can to locate Samantha – while a year has passed, we still believe we can locate her.
"This year we will continue to conduct searches in the Ballarat area, including searches in areas highlighted by intelligence derived from a number of sources."
Extensive efforts to find the mother of three's remains have so far been unsuccessful. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)
Det Insp Dunstan called on locals to be aware of their surroundings and contact police immediately if they believe they may have come across Ms Murphy's remains.
"There is nothing we want more than to return Samantha to her family and we remain committed to doing this," he said.
Premier Jacinta Allan said the anniversary was a tough moment for Ms Murphy's family, Ballarat and women more broadly.
"We should hold them in our hearts today," she said.
"Too many women continue to lose their lives at the hands of either a known former or current partner or a complete stranger.
"This violence against women has to stop."
Detectives from the Missing Persons Squad are reaffirming their commitment to finding the body of missing Ballarat woman, Samantha Murphy.— Victoria Police (@VictoriaPolice) Details: https://t.co/qqQ7TDMKQB Anyone with any information about Samantha's disappearance is urged to contact Crime Stoppers. pic.twitter.com/bD5H3ty5J6February 1, 2025
As the search for Ms Murphy's body intensified in February 2024, Sebastopol mother Rebecca Young was killed at the hands of her partner just five kilometres away in an apparent murder-suicide.
Two months later the body of 23-year-old Hannah McGuire was found in a burnt-out car in Scarsdale, about 23km south of Ballarat.
Her ex-boyfriend was charged with murder and has since pleaded not guilty.
Three women have died in Australia due to violence in 2025, according to feminist group Destroy the Joint's online project Counting Dead Women Australia.
The group's data shows 78 women were killed in 2024 due to gender-based violence, up from 64 in 2023, 56 in 2022, 44 in 2021 and 62 in 2020.
Stephenson pleaded not guilty to murder in November as he elected to fast-track his criminal trial.
He is the son of Orren Stephenson, who played 15 AFL games for Geelong and Richmond between 2012 and 2014.
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