Fossils of Varanus prisca have only been recovered from Pleistocene deposits (between 2.6 million years and 10,000 years ago) in eastern Australia, although some very similar remains are also known from New Guinea and some other Indonesia islands (e.g. Flores).
The exact date that Varanus prisca became extinct is unknown, but is likely to be have between 46,000 and 30,000 years before present.
It is possible that the earliest human inhabitants of Australia came into contact with this amazing lizard, though it is likely that climatic changes, rather than human interactions, were primarily responsible for its extinction.