Police promise to continue investigating the disappearance of a preschooler from an outback property despite scaling back the search.
August, known as Gus, went missing from his family's sheep station in the remote South Australian mid-north on Saturday afternoon.
The only trace found of the four-year-old was a tiny footprint in the dirt about 500 metres from the family homestead amid an extensive week-long ground and air search.
"We will not rest until we can try and find the answer to why Gus has been missing, and hopefully, like I said before about the family, return him to them," SA Police assistant commissioner Ian Parrott told reporters on Friday.
"We will now transition into investigation focus, [and] we will now continue to pursue ongoing lines of inquiry."
Police are confident they did everything they could to find Gus.
"Everything that we have found to date, every piece of information and evidence that we have explored to date, indicates that ... Gus has wandered off from this property and we've not been able to locate him," Parrott said
"Despite our best efforts, we have not been able to locate him, and unfortunately, we are now having to scale back this search."
Emergency service personnel would leave the property near Yunta, about 300km north of Adelaide, he said.
"There will still be, obviously, a liaison with the family, as we continue to follow lines of inquiry and to do everything we can to make sure we've covered every single option in terms of what may have occurred at that property," Parrott said.
The extensive search for the missing boy has involved SES volunteers on trailbikes, ATVs, dogs and a drone. Source: Supplied / Channel Seven
"Whilst we've all been hoping for a miracle, that miracle has not eventuated," Parrott said.
"This is clearly now what appears to be a very tragic set of circumstances."
Gus was described as an adventurous boy who had been playing in the sand near the family homestead when he disappeared.
No significant evidence was found to indicate where Gus may have gone during the massive search involving police, defence force personnel and large numbers of volunteers.
