The likelihood of finding a little boy lost in the outback is fading as family and searchers cling to hope he has found shelter and is waiting to be rescued.

Defence personnel have joined the search for the four-year-old who has not been seen for almost a week.

South Australian police released a photo of the missing boy on Thursday. Credit: SA Police

August, known as Gus, disappeared from his family’s sheep station in the remote South Australian mid-north on Saturday afternoon.

The only trace found of the preschooler is a tiny footprint in the dirt about 500 metres from the family homestead, which brought hope, but police now admit it “could have been there a week”.

“A four-year-old lad, they just don’t disappear into thin air,” Superintendent Mark Syrus said on Thursday.

“They h

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