As the search for Cleo Smith enters its 11th day, the case continues to grip the public's attention.
The four-year-old was last seen in her family's tent at Blowholes campsite, about 850 kilometres north of Perth, on Saturday October 16.
Her mother, Ellie Smith, told police she had woken at 1:30am to give Cleo a drink, before going back to sleep.
When she woke at 6:00am, Cleo and her sleeping bag were gone, and the entrance to the tent had been unzipped to a height the young girl could not have reached.
For many, the idea of a four-year-old girl vanishing, seemingly without a trace, has stirred up feelings of helplessness, as the police investigation slowly unfolds.
"Not having that resolution and having that mystery around the circumstances potentially adds to a feeling of helplessness around what is going on."
One of the ways the community has responded to those feelings has been by displaying missing persons posters.
They started showing up in shopfronts in the nearby town of Carnarvon in the days after Cleo's disappearance and were quickly plastered on most stores.
In recent days the posters have also appeared in Perth shop windows.
Dr Pestell said it was likely people had responded to a plea from police for evidence and information while people's memories were still fresh.
"There's an understanding that it's important to act quickly," she said.
'It's every parent's worst nightmare'
The posters are also a visible representation of how Cleo's disappearance is tugging on people's heartstrings.
"Going on a camping trip is such an Australian family holiday, it's such an innocent past time," Dr Pestell said.
Cleo's story has also attracted massive interest online.
Collectively, social media posts from organisations including WA Police and ABC Perth have been shared hundreds of thousands of times.
A number of interstate police forces have also posted information about Cleo's disappearance, with each being shared thousands of times.
International news organisations from the UK, US, Poland, Italy, Brazil, Spain, Norway and Germany have also covered the story.
A video update from GMA News, based in the Philippines, garnered about 365,000 views online.
Lack of answers leaves people 'helpless'
Murdoch University social media researcher Catherine Archer put that down to a few key factors.
"It is curiosity, but it's [also] just that feeling of helplessness," she said.
"Where there is no answer at the moment, because there's that gap of information, there's a void and people will try and fill it."
Dr Archer said the way the case had been playing out on social media also highlighted a change in the way people communicated with each other.
"People now use social media the way we used to talk in coffee shops and pubs," she said.
"They're just expressing that heartfelt emotion, but just doing it directly onto social media.
"They're saying those things, maybe having an opinion on something, and just posting it on social media, rather than necessarily talking to a friend about it."
She said that could be particularly problematic for the administrators of Facebook pages, who can be held liable for defamatory comments made on their posts.
Call to check sheds, old cars, abandoned locations
Meanwhile, a major focus of investigating officers is finding the driver of a vehicle that was seen leaving the campsite between between 3:00am and 3:30am on the morning Cleo disappeared.
Acting Police Commissioner Col Blanch also asked the public to search their properties for any sign of Cleo, or anything unusual.
"We would ask everyone to check their sheds, their cars, their old cars, locations that might be abandoned," he said yesterday.
Acting Commissioner Blanch also thanked the public for their help in providing information to police.
"The public, particularly in Carnarvon, have really put in a monumental effort to ask for help on the investigation," he said.
"It's something that I think everyone in the community has really rallied together to help."
He said investigators were continuing to assess a large amount of information.
