A shoe has been found by police digging for the remains of missing man Matthew Leveson in bushland south of Sydney.
It was unearthed by an excavator off the side of a road in the Royal National Park in Waterfall on Friday afternoon, where Mr Leveson's former partner Michael Atkins led detectives the previous day.
The sole of a second shoe was also discovered.
At the scene, Matthew's parents Faye and Mark looked on but did not examine the shoe or comment on it.
"If a person is scared, in the dark of the night time, trying to get rid of a body, what would you do?" Mr Leveson replied when asked by media about the location earlier in the day.
"That's how we have to think."
The search was launched after Mr Atkins struck a deal authorised by NSW Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton.
He was given immunity from prosecution for perjury and contempt of court during his evidence at the current coroner's inquest into the disappearance.
"Of all of Atkins' lies, this is his last chance," Mr Leveson said.
"He has every reason now to tell the truth."
Mr and Mrs Leveson said they had searched the same spot during one of many weekends spent digging for their son in the park.
"It's heartbreaking to think that we were in there and that we could have been on Matty, standing right on top of him," Faye Leveson said.
"We're going to bring him home. We're going to give him somewhere where he can lay to rest. Where his brothers can come to talk to him. Where we can talk to him.
"He's never been given that opportunity. He (Atkins) just dumped him like a piece of rubbish."
Mr Atkins was acquitted of the 20-year-old's murder after a trial in 2009.
Matthew Leveson was last seen leaving Darlinghurst nightclub ARQ with Mr Atkins two years earlier.
Mr Atkins was seen on CCTV footage buying a garden mattock and gaffer tape from a hardware shop about 12pm the same day his partner was last spotted.
At the inquest, he said he thought Matthew may still be alive and possibly living in Thailand.
He has always denied killing his former partner.
Police will resume searching on Saturday morning.
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