Northern Region detectives charged the 37-year-old woman with eight counts of murder.

She appeared before Magistrate Alan Comans in a bedside hearing at the Cairns Base Hospital on Sunday morning.

She was charged under the name Raina Mersane Ina Thaiday. She is also known as Mersane Warria.

Detective Inspector Bruno Asnicar and Acting Assistant Commissioner Paul Taylor are expected to address the media at 2pm Queensland time.

The charges came after police arrived at the house on Murray Street Manoora about 11.20am on Friday, responding to reports of a woman with serious injuries.

It has emerged the woman's son, 20, had discovered the scene.

His 37-year-old mother Mersane Warria, also known as Raina Thaiday, was taken by ambulance to Cairns Base Hospital where she was treated for stab wounds not deemed life-threatening.

By Saturday, Ms Warria had been arrested over the children's deaths but not charged.

Eight children were found dead in the house in the Cains suburb and autopsies were ordered to confirm the causes of death.

Police had positively identified the children by Sunday.

The victims were four girls - aged 14, 12, 11, and two – and four boys – aged nine, eight, six and five.

Ms Warria was aunt to the oldest girl and mother to the seven other children, who had five different fathers.

In Cairns Base Hospital at a bedside hearing on Sunday, she was charged with eight counts of murder.

The matter will be heard on Monday in the Cairns Magistrates Court but the accused is excused from attending the hearing.

Danielle Cronin