Police officers have released a video of the moments after Cleo Smith was located, with an official saying that officers openly wept with relief.
In new bodycam footage of the rescue, police can be seen carrying the girl into the garden before a police detective asks whether she is OK.
When Cleo smiles and nods, he tells her: “We’re going to take you to see your mummy and daddy, OK?”
Cleo’s family lives in Carnarvon, a small community of just 5,000 people.
She had disappeared with her sleeping bag on the second day of a family camping trip at Blowholes Campground, 47 miles north of Carnarvon, on October 16.
But a police team managed to break their way into a locked house in Carnarvon about 1am on Wednesday and found the four-year-old.
Western Australia police deputy commissioner Col Blanch described seeing seasoned detectives “openly crying with relief”.
“We were looking for a needle in a haystack and we found it,” he told Perth Radio 6PR.
“When she said: ‘My name is Cleo,’ I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house. To see Cleo rescued this morning, I’m speechless.”
Superintendent Rod Wilde told reporters at a press conference that Cleo was in good spirits and communicating well with officers after being found.
He said: “Having seen her a couple times this morning, she is a little Energiser bunny. How she has that much energy, I wish I did, I am about ready to go to sleep,’ he said.
“Very sweet, energetic girl. Very trusting and very open with us. We all wanted to take turns holding her. It was a really good experience.”
