The case is now officially a missing persons investigation

POLICE have returned to a house in an Australian outback where a four-year-old boy vanished – after calling the search off.

August “Gus” Lamont vanished last Saturday evening while playing outside his grandparents’ remote homestead about 24 miles south of Yunta, north-east of Adelaide.

A young child with blonde curly hair smiles slightly at the camera, wearing a gray shirt with the text "MY MUMMY" and a pink pig character.
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August ‘Gus’ Lamont still hasn’t been found after he disappeared last SaturdayCredit: SA Police

Rabbit scat on a red dirt trail.
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Australian cops said the four-year-old left behind a single footprintCredit: 7 News
His grandmother last saw him playing near a dirt mound before he vanished.

The only clue searchers uncovered was a single child-sized footprint about 500 metres from the homestead.

Cops called off the search after no clothing, hat, or any other sign of the boy was found.

The case is now officially a missing persons investigation — but police vowed not to stop searching for answers.

“We will continue to pursue ongoing lines of inquiry, and we will not rest until we can try and find the answer to why Gus has gone missing, and hopefully, for the family, return him to them,” Commissioner Parrott said.

Authorities have now returned to the family’s property to investigate the case presumed death of the four-year-old boy.

Officers spent more than two hours speaking with family and taking photos around the property, 9News reports.

Police said all the evidence so far suggests the boy’s disappearance is not suspicious.

The operation – one of the largest in the state’s history – has now been handed to the Missing Persons Investigation Section, shifting from a rescue mission to a long-term inquiry.

Assistant Police Commissioner Ian Parrott said it was “unlikely Gus will be found alive” after days of freezing nights and harsh terrain.

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“While we’ve all been hoping for a miracle, that miracle was not eventuated,” Commissioner Parrott said.

“We’re confident that we’ve done absolutely everything we can to locate Gus within the search area, but despite our best efforts, we have not been able to locate him, and unfortunately, we are now having to scale back this search for Gus.”

At its peak, more than 100 people were on the ground each day.

But professional survival experts warned that a four-year-old in Gus’s thin clothing faced almost impossible odds after so many nights in near-freezing temperatures.

He was wearing a grey broad-brimmed hat, a blue Minions shirt, light grey pants and boots.

Commissioner Parrott said: “In the last 48 hours, despite the professional advice it being unlikely that Gus would have survived, we have maintained and in fact increased the effort to try and locate him and bring him back to his family.

“In the last 48 hours, despite the professional advice it being unlikely that Gus would have survived, we have maintained and in fact increased the effort to try and locate him and bring him back to his family.”

A metal sign for "OAKY PARK" next to a cattle grid leading to a dirt road, with a building and cars in the distance.
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Gus vanished last Saturday evening from his grandparents’ remote homesteadCredit: 7 News

Emergency responders in orange and dark uniforms search a grassy field with hills in the background.
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Police scoured thousands of miles in the Australian outback with no luck

Two rescue workers searching through a rural area with abandoned vehicles and debris.
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Police have scaled back the search for missing four-year-old Gus

Family clinging to hope

Earlier this week, family friend Bill Harbison released a statement on behalf of Gus’s devastated relatives.

“This has come as a shock to our family and friends, and we are struggling to comprehend what has happened,” he said.

“Gus’s absence is felt in all of us and we miss him more than words can express.

“Our hearts are aching, and we are holding onto hope that he will be found and returned to us safely.”

Locals have voiced fears the little boy could have stumbled into one of the region’s many unmarked mine shafts or wells.

Some of these century-old relics from gold and livestock days are almost invisible in the rugged country.

Police stressed they believe Gus simply wandered off and was not taken, describing the case as “very tragic” but with no evidence of foul play.

Yorke Mid North Superintendent Mark Syrus said it was “unusual” for Gus to roam so far but “who knows what goes through a four-year-old’s mind?”

A large group of law enforcement and search and rescue personnel, including many in orange jumpsuits, stand in a field with vehicles in the background.
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Cops have now scaled back the search for Gus Lamont after a weekCredit: SA Police

Navy blue long-sleeved shirt with a yellow Minion wearing blue overalls printed on the front.
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He was last seen wearing a blue shirt with a Minion from the Despicable Me film on