The 18-day search for Cleo Smith came to an end overnight after police forced their way into a house in Carnarvon, a north-west coastal town about 70km from the family campsite.

A 36-year-old man from Carnarvon is in custody and is being questioned. The house was reportedly only seven minutes from the child’s family home. Police say the man has no connection to the family and was not at the house when police broke in.

WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said a trail of forensic evidence led them to the house early this morning.

“We followed every particular lead we had,” he said.

“It was methodical it was dedicated, it was dogged. There was some really skilled work in finding her. I can’t release all those details, they will emerge. But it was following every particular lead.

“There was some information which we followed up on. And it led us to a particular house.”

The news of her rescue broke this morning when WA Police issued a statement.

“It’s my privilege to announce that in the early hours of this morning, the Western Australia Police Force rescued Cleo Smith,” WA Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch said.

“Cleo is alive and well. A Police team broke their way into a locked house in Carnarvon about 1am. They found little Cleo in one of the rooms.

“One of the officers picked her up into his arms and asked her ‘what’s your name?’

She said – ‘My name is Cleo’.”

Cleo Smith. Photo: AAP/Western Australia Police Force

She has been reunited with her mother Ellie Smith and her partner Jake Gliddon. She is receiving medical care but is said to be in good physical health.

“Our family is whole again,” Smith posted on Instagram alongside a photo of Cleo.

Blanch said it was “the outcome we all hoped and prayed for”.

“We were looking for that needle in the haystack then late last night they found that needle,” he said.

Blanch said police officers cried with relief when Cleo was found.

“It was just an amazing moment, I have never seen seasoned detectives break down and cry with relief and I know that is the sentiment that is shared across the community,” he told Channel 7.

“It’s just an amazing moment. From the commissioner down we have all had tears in our eyes this morning … a massive outpouring of relief.”

Cleo went missing from a tent at the Blowholes campsite, not far from Carnarvon but about 950km north of Perth, after the family arrived on October 16.

She was last seen by her mother around 1.30am that night.

Cleo Smith’s mother Ellie Smith and partner Jake Gliddon appeal for information three days after her disappearance. Photo: AAP/James Carmody

WA investigators spoke to more than 110 people who were at the campsite when Cleo went missing.

They sifted through more than 1000 calls to Crime Stoppers and trawled through vast amounts of materials for forensic clues.

They had also been searching for the driver of a car seen leaving in the campsite in the middle of the night before it was discovered the child was missing.

WA Police had suspected she was abducted by an “opportunistic” offender.

Neighbours of the arrested man have told media that he was seen buying nappies in a local supermarket on Monday.

The state government had offered a $1 million reward for information to find Cleo.

-with AAP