Cleo Smith found: A full timeline of the 18-day search for the missing four-year-old

West Australians gave a collective sigh of relief as four-year-old Cleo Smith was found safe and well on Wednesday morning.

Here are the 18 days that gripped a State.

FRIDAY, OCT 15

6pm: Cleo Smith and her family, mum Ellie, baby sister Isla, and stepdad Jake Gliddon, arrive at Blowholes camp site, about 70km north of Carnarvon.

SATURDAY, OCT 16

1.30am: Ellie gives Cleo some water after being woken by her daughter. They then go back to sleep.

6am: Parents wake to find Cleo missing.

6.23am: Ellie calls triple-0.

7.10am: The first police vehicle arrives at the Blowholes with the second arriving shortly afterwards.

8am: Several family and friends of Cleo’s parents arrive at the scene to help. Carnarvon detectives attend the family home in South Carnarvon to search for signs of Cleo before heading to the Blowholes to stop vehicles in the area. A full-scale search of the Blowholes and surrounding area takes place throughout the day using helicopter, drone, land and sea search.

11am: Homicide detectives from the major crime division are deployed from Perth by road to Carnarvon.

That night: Search suspended at last light but efforts continue with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s jet doing nighttime patrols.

SUNDAY, OCT 17

Early morning: Land and sea searches resume.

1.30pm: Insp. Jon Munday says police are “gravely concerned” for Cleo’s safety when she went missing.

1.30pm: Ellie Smith and Jake Gliddon give their first interview saying Cleo wouldn’t have wandered off and pleading that “we need our little girl home”.

MONDAY, OCT 18

Mid-morning: The marine search for Cleo is scaled back.

1.30pm: Police release an image of the red and grey sleeping bag Cleo was in that is missing from the family’s tent.

TUESDAY, OCT 19

Morning: Police release an image of the pink jumpsuit Cleo was wearing the tent herself confirming the grim possibility that she was abducted.

WEDNESDAY, OCT 20

8am: Police reveal as many as 20 registered sex offenders are living in the Carnarvon area where Cleo went missing.

3.30pm: Insp. Munday admits Cleo could not have reached the zipper to leave and confirms detectives from Perth are involved in the investigation.

THURSDAY, OCT 21

7.30am: CCTV audio from a shack near to where the Smith’s tent was confirms Cleo was at the camp site.

12.30pm: Premier Mark McGowan announces a $1 million reward for any information that enables police to solve the mystery of missing Cleo.

FRIDAY, OCT 22

12.30pm: Police appeal for all dash cam and CCTV footage within a 1000km radius from where Cleo disappeared.

5pm: Task Force Rodia leader Det-Supt Rod Wilde reveals there are still people yet to come forward who stayed at the campground.

SATURDAY, OCT 23

11am: Forensic police spend the day dusting for fingerprints and examining the outside of Cleo’s South Carnarvon home.

SUNDAY, OCT 24

1pm: In a stunning breakthrough, two witnesses travelling together for work say they saw a sedan turning right from Blowholes Road, heading south along the North West Coastal Highway between 3am and 3.30am on the day Cleo went missing.

MONDAY, OCT 25

6pm: Cleo’s parents do their second televised interview with mum Ellie pleading: “Just bring our girl home safe — give her back to us.”

TUESDAY, OCT 26

2.30pm: Forensic police and detectives return to the family home in South Carnarvon, this time to search the inside of the house. Stepfather Jake lets them in and assists before leaving. Detectives leave about 6pm.

10.30pm: Forensic police finally leave the family home after almost eight hours.

WEDNESDAY, OCT 27

1pm: Forensic police return to the family home and inspect inside and outside the property. They also take ashes and burnt firewood from sites at the Blowholes campground.

THURSDAY, OCT 28

1pm-4pm: Supt Wilde makes his first trip to Carnarvon and the Blowholes campsite. He reveals there have been more than 200 reported sightings of the little girl but all have proved “unfruitful”.

SUNDAY, OCT 31

Premier McGowan pleads with trolls to lay off Cleo’s parents while Supt Wilde tells the Sunday Times: “We want to make it clear — they are not suspects in this investigation. They have been helping us.”

MONDAY, NOV 1

All day: Police from Geraldton and Perth using drones to create a detailed map of the area around where Cleo was last seen and start sifting through rubbish collected from the campsite for clues.

TUESDAY, NOV 2

Acting Police Commissioner Col Blanch says that his officers’ working theory was that Cleo was likely still in WA.

WEDNESDAY, NOV 3

12.45am: Police officers break into a locked house in Carnarvon and find Cleo in a room. A 36-year-old man is arrested a few minutes later near the home. A short time later Cleo is reunited with her parents.