Missing Queensland toddler Ruben Scott has been found dead in a dam near his family home on the Cape York Peninsula.
Police divers discovered the toddler's body while searching a large dam near the homestead on Koolatah Station on Friday afternoon, police have announced.
Late on Thursday, police had sat the Scott family down and told them too much time had passed for the two-year-old to have survived.
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Ruben's heartbroken grandfather said he had one hope left after being told the beloved boy was presumed to have died alone on the remote Cape York cattle station.
"Hopefully we can find Ruben today," Noel Scott said, holding back tears.
"We are preparing for the worst, at the moment."
Only hours later, Ruben's body was found.
Ruben was last seen by his mother Natasha Scott at 5.44pm on Tuesday before he wandered away from the homestead on the vast, rugged property on the western side of Cape York Peninsula.
Search crews spent the intervening days combing dense bushland and nearby waterways."Last night I had to sit with the family and advise them the survivability of their son and grandson has now passed," Cape Patrol Inspector Mark Henderson said on Friday.
"That won't stop our efforts. We won't stop, we will continue to try to find young Ruben and bring closure for the family," said at the time.
Eight police divers travelled to the station, which is known as a crocodile habitat, as part of the large-scale search.
Earlier, Ms Scott thanked everyone who had helped spread the message about her son and joined in to look for him.
"Come home baby please Aunty Reesey misses you we all miss you," his aunt Cherese Scott wrote on Facebook.
"We want our Ruby home safe and sound."
Family, station employees and workers from neighbouring stations began looking for the boy on Tuesday and called police around nightfall when they couldn't find him.
They continued searching through Tuesday night and were joined on Wednesday by State Emergency Services personnel, rangers and workers from a construction site in Kowanyama.
