There has long been rumours Kate Ritchie will make a comeback to Home and Away.

The media personality, 45, rose to fame playing Sally Fletcher on the hit soap opera between 1988 and 2008, and has often talked publicly about returning to Summer Bay.

Now her Nova co-star Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli has given the biggest indication yet she will once again star on the show.

‘I know you’re going back to the Bay,’ he told Kate on air.

‘I’ve seen your emails as I sit next to you in the office.’

Kate jokingly replied: ‘No you don’t, you have bad eyes.’

It is also rumoured Hollywood superstar Chris Hemsworth, who appeared on Seven’s long-running soap between 2004 and 2007, was ‘helping out’ Kate with her big return.

According to Wippa, Kate needed an ‘audition partner’ so it could be made ‘official’.

After announcing he had written a script, Wippa teased the veteran actress he had organised a former Home and Away star to film scenes with her.

On Friday, Wippa claimed he had received a voicemail from the Hollywood star about Kate’s audition – which he then played back during the show with a decoder to hide the identity of the actor.

‘Look mate, I’ve read through that script you just sent and it’s insane,’ the actor said.

‘That stuff, that storyline, that’s a Bay bombshell. And I love it, and I love the idea of you guys, you know, just sort of getting into it.’

The performer then asked for more time to ‘prepare’ for the role.

‘So is there any chance you could just give me a little bit longer to perfect the character so I can, you know, do the scene justice?’ they continued.

‘Because I think we’ve got something good on our hands here, and I’d love for it to go out properly. Call me back Wip.’

Kate then guessed that the voice belonged to her former co-star Chris.

‘I know who I think it sounds like. It’s a man with quite a deep, husky voice… He doesn’t work on Home and Away anymore. It’s not Chris Hemsworth, is it?’

Wippa attempted to dodge Kate’s probing: ‘I can’t answer your questions,’ he said adding: ‘It’s a big name. You’ll find out when the scene’s on.’

Rumours of Kate coming back to the Bay also came last week when the star took part in an epic Home and Away reunion for her co-stars at Ray Meagher’s 80th birthday celebrations.

The actress took to her Instagram Stories to give an insight into the fun-filled celebrations, which came two weeks ahead of Ray’s big birthday on July 4.