Australian national Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto (2nd R) is escorted by Malaysian customs officials as she arrives at the Magistrate Court in Sepang on April 30, 2015. Source: AFP

Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto, 52, was arrested on December 7 last year at Kuala Lumpur airport allegedly carrying 1.1kg of the drug, also known as ice, court documents showed.

The Sydney woman was travelling to Australia.

She had flown in on a flight from Shanghai and was in transit before catching a connecting Malaysian Airlines flight to Melbourne.

She was arrested at the customs counter as she attempted to exit the airport.

Prosecutor Hasifulkhair Jamaluddin told the Malaysian Magistrate’s court today tests conducted by a chemist confirmed the substance found in Exposto’s bag was the drug.

Magistrate Noor Hafizah Salim then ordered the case to be transferred to the high court.

Malaysia has a mandatory death penalty by hanging for anyone found guilty of carrying more than 50g of a drug.

Australian national Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto is escorted by a Malaysian custom official as she arrives at the Magistrate Court in Sepang on April 30, 2015. Source: AFP

Authorities previously said Exposto was trafficking 1.5kg of methamphetamine.

Exposto, a mother of four, appeared nervous when the amended charge was read to her.

Her defence team has yet to enter a plea, preferring to wait for the case to reach the high court because the lower magistrate’s court has no jurisdiction to hear death penalty cases.

After the hearing, the 52-year-old was led out of the detention room in handcuffs, the Australian told reporters that she was innocent and nodded her head three times.

“Yes (I am innocent),” she said with a smile.

No date has been set for the high court hearing but defence lawyers said the trial could begin later this year.

“We are confident that we can show her innocence at the trial,” Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, her counsel said.

Exposto’s lawyers claim the grandmother was a mule who was duped into carrying a bag -- which she believed contained only clothing -- by a stranger who asked her to take it to Melbourne.

She had travelled to Shanghai after falling for an online romance scam by a person claiming to be a US serviceman, according to lawyers.

Customs officers discovered the drugs stitched into the compartment of a backpack.

Two Australians were hanged in 1986 for heroin trafficking -- the first Westerners to be executed in Malaysia.

Few people have been executed in Malaysia in recent years.