The father of missing four-year-old August ‘Gus’ Lamont has been seen publicly for the first time since the toddler disappeared in the South Australian outback.

The little boy vanished almost two weeks ago after playing in the yard of remote Oak Park homestead in the harsh South Australian outback, 300km north of Adelaide.

Huge air and land searches have failed to find any trace of him apart from a single footprint in the desert scrub since he disappeared on the evening of September 27.

Police have now given up all hope of finding him alive and said last week the search had now been scaled back and moved into recovery mode as they switched focus to finding his body.

Gus is understood to have been living at his grandparents’ homestead with his mother Jess and his one-year-old brother Ronnie.

Gus’s father, Joshua Lamont, lives two hours’ drive away, 100km to the west in Belalie North, near Jamestown.

The Daily Mail has been told that while Josh and Jess remained a couple, he does not live on the station because of family clashes with Jess’s transgender parent, Josie.

A source close to the devastated father said he is furious that his little boy went missing from Oak Park.

Joshua Lamont, the father of missing four-year-old August ‘Gus’ Lamont, has been seen publicly for the first time after the toddler disappeared in the South Australian outback

Gus is pictured. His father lives two hours’ drive away, 100km to the west in Belalie North, near Jamestown

The little boy vanished almost two weeks ago after playing in the yard of remote Oak Park homestead in the harsh South Australian outback, 300km north of Adelaide

‘Josh doesn’t think it’s safe for the kids to be out there, it’s dangerous,’ a family friend revealed.

On Wednesday, Mr Lamont broke cover in Adelaide, where he is staying with relatives, after he earlier joined the search for his son.

His brother Samuel insisted Mr Lamont – who was once a country music singer performing in SA pubs under the name, Billy Tea – was in ‘no state to talk to anyone’.

Mr Lamont was seen wearing a sweater emblazoned with the words A Red Dawn – a metal band which he played bass for in the early 2000s.

It is understood Mr Lamont only found out his child was missing when police woke him up at his Belalie North home, hours after Gus had vanished.

At that property on Wednesday, two hours west of the homestead where Gus went missing, two child’s bicycles could be seen still parked on the verandah.

A friend confirmed they were Gus’s bikes.

Jason O’Connell, who was an SES member for 11 years, and his partner Jen revealed earlier this week that Mr Lamont had joined them on a night-time search for Gus.

Josh Lamont broke cover in Adelaide, where he is staying with relatives, after he earlier joined the search for his son

At Mr Lamont’s Balalie North home on Wednesday, two hours west of the homestead where Gus went missing, Gus’s bicycles could be seen still parked on the verandah

‘Jen and I were the only ones searching nights, apart from Monday night the father joined us, and we would head home when main search crews arrived through the day,’ he said.

Local experts who helped with the search say they are baffled by the disappearance and their inability to find any clues to the little boy’s fate.

Gus was last seen playing in a mound of dirt about 5pm but had vanished when his grandmother went to call him inside half an hour later.

The boy had been wearing a grey broad-brimmed hat, a distinctive blue long-sleeved shirt with a Minion picture from the movie Despicable Me on the front, with light grey pants and boots.

On Thursday, the Daily Mail revealed Gus’s family are still clinging to the hope he will be found as the child’s grandparent spoke for the first time.

The property where he vanished was eerily quiet on Wednesday with no sign of any police operation, after defence force, SES and indigenous tracker search teams withdrew from the area.

But Gus’s transgender grandparent, Josie Murray – who locals say transitioned many years ago – told the Daily Mail the family had not lost hope.

‘We’re still looking for him,’ she insisted, while declining offers of assistance in the search effort.

‘You can’t help. We are still dealing with this.’

Gus’s grandparent, Josie Murray – a transgender woman who locals say transitioned many years ago – told the Daily Mail the family had not lost hope

Mr Lamont only found out his child was missing when police woke him up at his Belalie North home, hours after Gus had vanished

Despite the vast, featureless landscape surrounding the property, the boy managed to evade all search efforts and even the location of his remains is a mystery

Despite the vast, featureless landscape surrounding the property, the boy managed to evade all search efforts and even the location of his remains is a mystery.

‘I personally am very doubtful he is on the property,’ said Jason O’Connell, an SES member for 11 years, who covered more than 1,200km as part of the search team.

After days of hunting for the boy, he and his partner Jen were surprised there were no birds of prey circling overhead which might have signalled a possible body.

‘No birds of prey means he’s not there,’ he added.

‘It’s just wide, open land. There’s really not much there, and I’m surprised because we just didn’t find anything.

‘He’s not on that property.’

Despite the vast search, the only trace of Gus found was a footprint discovered about 500 metres from the homestead – and police have since cast doubt on that.

Local tracker Aaron Stuart told the media it was unusual to find one footprint as you would usually find ‘tracks’.

A source close to the devastated father said he is furious that his little boy went missing from Oak Park

Mr Lamont  was once a country music singer performing in SA pubs under the name, Billy Tea

‘You’d find the next one, and the one after that,’ the former policeman told the Adelaide Advertiser. ‘You don’t find one track, you find tracks.’

Another Yunta local, Alex Thomas, said Gus’ family had been victims of horrific ‘online vitriol’ accusing them of being involved in the little boy’s disappearance.

‘I really want to gently inform people about the realities of rural life and ask them for their compassion and understanding,’ Ms Thomas said.

‘Because this gentle and loving family – they’re not headlines, they are not a spectacle.

‘They are real people who are hurting beyond belief.’

SAPOL Deputy Commissioner Linda Williams confirmed the investigation is now being managed by Missing Persons Section, which is part of Major Crime Investigation Branch.

‘That’s where all long-term cases such as this are managed and investigated,’ she said.

‘In addition to the search activity, there has been concurrent inquiries undertaken, which are continuing.’

SAPOL Deputy Commissioner Linda Williams confirmed the investigation is now being managed by Missing Persons Section, which is part of Major Crime Investigation Branch

The boy had been wearing a grey broad-brimmed hat, a distinctive blue long-sleeved shirt with a Minion picture from the movie Despicable Me on the front, with light grey pants and boots

Assistant Police Commissioner Ian Parrott said his team were ‘confident that we have done all we can to locate Gus’.

‘The determination of every individual involved to find Gus has never wavered,’ he said.

‘Like every member of the community who has been following this sad event, they too have been very much affected by what has happened.

‘While we’ve all been hoping for a miracle, that miracle was not eventuated.’