Watch: Heartwarming moment when four-year-old Australian girl was found alive after 18-day hunt

Perth, Australia

Four-year-old Cleo Smith, who went missing from an Australian outback campsite 18 days ago has been found and returned to her parents. According to authorities, the Australian police rescued her from a locked house.

In the early morning hours of Wednesday, police broke into a house in Carnarvon, about 100 km south of the campsite, and found Cleo in one of the rooms.

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In an interview with local television, Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch, Western Australia Police, said that one of the officers picked up Cleo into his arms and asked her, "What's your name?". To which she replied, "My name is Cleo".

Watch the video of the heartwarming moment here:

Blanch told the media that a man has been taken into custody in connection with the disappearance.

"What a great day. We now have returned Cleo to her loving parents. It is a wonderful day for this little girl and her family," WA Commissioner Chris Dawson said in a separate televised press conference.

Cleo was last seen on October 16th, at approximately 1:30 am local time (1730 GMT), while camping with her parents at the Blowholes Shacks campsite in Macleod, 900 kilometres north of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. She was gone when her parents woke up the next morning.

Her disappearance had sparked a frantic air, sea, and ground search that involved more than 100 officers and tens of thousands of volunteers.

While scores of volunteers assisted in the rescue effort, searching nearby bushland for clues, police used human intelligence, surveillance footage, and forensic analyses to locate the little girl.

During the course of the investigation, police received more than 1,000 tips from the public. 

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An Aus $1 million (or USD $743,000) reward was offered by the Australian police to anyone who could lead them to the girl's whereabouts.

Charges will be filed later today. It is believed the abduction was and "opportunistic". As per the information released by the police, the suspect was not on a local list of sex offenders and had only become a person of interest a day ago.

"She is physically OK. That was evident from the start," said state police homicide squad Senior Sergeant Cameron Blaine, who was one of four people to rescue the child.

"Taking her to the hospital, we got assurance of that from people that know what they are doing."

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Despite his long career, finding her was, in his words, "without a doubt" the best moment of his career. "She is a very sweet, energetic girl, very trusting and very open with us," he said.

Scott Morrison had a similar reaction, calling it "wonderful, relieving news".

"Cleo Smith has been found and is home safe and sound. Our prayers answered," Morrison said on Twitter.

Police admitted that "seasoned detectives" were "openly crying with relief" at the discovery and when Cleo was reunited with her parents at a hospital a short time later.

A lot of people were concerned that the search would end tragically. 

Missing children who are taken by someone other than a relative rarely turn up alive after being gone for so long. Every year, approximately 25,000 young people are reported missing in Australia.

(With inputs from agencies)