South Australian Police hope to find clues for missing four-year-old Gus Lamont in special infrared drone footage that has been gathered.

Police have revealed that a drone was used on Friday and Saturday nights to survey a large area of the remote property, near Yunta, north-east of Adelaide.SA Police Acting Commissioner Linda Williams said it was the same “complex” technology used in the search for murder victim Julian Story.

Story was allegedly killed by his Beauty and the Geek girlfriend Tamika Chesser in June.

The drone search was conducted after police said last week they were scaling back the search for four-year-old Gus.

“The results of that drone analysis are still being analysed. We hope to have those results in coming weeks,” Williams said.

“It’s quite complex technology so it will take a little while for that to work through.”

On Monday, specialist teams also completed a major search around the farm dam after a small footprint was found. It later turned out to be unrelated to Gus.

Williams said police would never give up hope of finding the curly-haired child.

However, the operation was shifting to a recovery phase.Assistant Commissioner Ian Parrott said that 10 full days after the boy was last seen, “no trace of Gus has been located”.

“No tangible pieces of evidence, such as footprints, a hat or clothing, have been located to identify any direction of travel to assist searchers,” he said.

“While those involved in the search have been hoping for a miracle, over the past 48 hours the search has shifted to a recovery operation.”

“We are confident that we have done all we can to locate Gus within the search area.”

Parrott said despite the best efforts of teams, “we have determined that the search will be scaled back from this afternoon (Tuesday)”.

“The investigation will now be managed by the Missing Persons Investigation Section,” he said.

Gus wandered off from the remote Oak Park Station homestead, about 300 kilometres north of Adelaide, on Saturday, September 27.

His grandmother saw him playing on a mound of dirt about 5pm. When she went outside to call him about half an hour later, he was missing.

According to a family member, Gus is a shy but adventurous child. While a good walker, he has never left the family property previously.

“Considerable police resources were committed to the initial search for Gus once we were alerted on Saturday evening,” Parrott said.

“This included a Polair helicopter using infrared technology and initial ground searches around the homestead.

“From early Sunday morning resources were increased considerably as the search intensified. This commitment has steadily increased since Sunday.”

Parrott said the search for Gus was one of the largest, most intensive and most protracted searches SA Police had ever undertaken.

“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.”

A doctor with expertise in survival said last week that Gus may not have survived due to the passage of time, his age and the nature of the terrain.

Concurrent inquiries are being undertaken as a matter of course when a four-year-old child goes missing.

“We are investigating and looking to rule out every option at this stage.”

SAPOL would like to thank everyone involved in the search for Gus.