Overview

• The search entered its seventh day on Thursday with no new signs of August “Gus” Lamont near his family’s homestead south of Yunta.
• Police say a footprint about 500 metres from the house has a very similar boot pattern to Gus’s but caution it may predate his disappearance.
• Forty-eight Australian Defence Force personnel have joined multi-agency ground teams including police cadets, SES crews, dogs, drones, helicopters, mounted units and a traditional tracker.
• Authorities have reclassified the effort toward recovery after more than 100 hours without confirmed shelter, food or water, and have prepared the family for the possibility of the worst outcome.
• Investigators do not consider the disappearance suspicious as the search expands beyond the initial radius across harsh terrain with cold nights, and the family released the first photo and asked for privacy.