Firefighters in the Philippines have recovered one body from a burning shopping centre as fears mount for the fate of 36 others trapped inside.

Sara Duterte-Carpio, the mayor of southern Davao city where the fire took place said there was "zero" chance that those trapped had survived.

Ms Duterte-Carpio said firefighters told distraught relatives of the 36 trapped employees of a business outsourcing company at the top floor of the NCCC Mall that nobody could survive the extreme heat and thick black smoke.

"They were told that the chances of survival are zero," she said, adding that one of those trapped may be a Chinese or a South Korean, based on the name.

The blaze was finally brought under control on Sunday, a day after it began on the third floor of the centre, although smoke continued to billow out of the building.

Investigators will determine the cause of the fire and the prospects of criminal lawsuits against the owners of the shopping centre and officials would depend on the outcome of the investigation, said the mayor, who is the daughter of the country's president, Rodrigo Duterte.

Mr Duterte, the mayor and Roman Catholic Church officials went to the site and met with relatives of the trapped office employees late Saturday and asked them to pray.

The president was photographed wiping his eyes with a handkerchief, his head bowed, at an emotional moment with the relatives of those inside.

The Philippines has been badly hit in recent months, with about 200 people feared dead in the provinces of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur and on the Zamboanga Peninsula as a result of Storm Tembin.