Police searching for Madeleine McCann were seen shaking hands and embracing as the search for the missing child appeared to draw to a close.
Officers involved in the operation stood in a circle for a debrief before they participated in a round of applause after their third and final day of operations near Praia da Luz.
Though the probe had been due to end on Friday, Portuguese detectives confirmed they will not return to the site tomorrow, marking an end to their extensive search operation.
Officers involved in the operation stood in a circle for a debrief before they participated in a round of applause
PA
Investigators smiled and cheered as fellow police officers brought a crate of beer to the search site
PA
The investigation teams were forced to locate evidence today or conclude their efforts empty-handed, 18 years after the three-year-old vanished from the Portuguese resort.
Officers had been scouring a 50-hectare area of scrubland between Praia da Luz and Lagos since Tuesday.
Madeleine McCann disappeared from a family holiday in Praia da Luz in 2007
PAThe operation involved more than 20 plots of land east of the popular resort town, spanning the area between the Ocean Club holiday resort where Madeleine vanished and the cottage where prime suspect Christian Brueckner lived.
The Times reports the operation cost at least £300,000, with more than 60 officers involved.
Search teams deployed a JCB digger this morning to clear rubble from derelict building remains at the site's eastern edge.
Ground-penetrating radar equipment, capable of searching up to 15 feet below the surface, was also spotted being used inside an abandoned farmhouse.
Around a dozen glove-clad officers conducted a fingertip search around the perimeter of another large farmhouse - their focus on day one.
LATEST AS THE MADELEINE MCCANN SEARCH COMES TO A CLOSE:
Officers conducted a fingertip search around the perimeter of a large farmhouse on Thursday
PA
PICTURED: A search team close to Praia De Luz, Portugal, where searches are being carried out by officers investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
PA
Search teams deployed a JCB digger this morning to clear rubble from derelict building remains at the site's eastern edge
PA
The operation has shifted from disused farm buildings near where Brueckner resided when Madeleine disappeared on May 3, 2007.
Officers are believed to be concentrating on two additional derelict buildings, searching for any evidence that the toddler was taken into the vast scrubland following her alleged abduction from the nearby holiday resort.
Christian Brueckner, the 48-year-old convicted paedophile long identified as German authorities' prime suspect in the McCann case, recently gave a face-to-face interview with broadcaster RTL from prison.
He vowed to flee and disappear following his release later this year, hinting at escaping to a country without an extradition treaty with Germany before going into hiding.
Speaking from his cell, Brueckner said he was looking forward to a "nice steak and a beer" upon release.
MORE ON PRIME SUSPECT CHRISTIAN BRUECKNER:
Paedophile Brueckner said he was looking forward to a 'nice steak and a beer' upon his release
GETTYHe also voiced his anger at how "half the world considers me a cruel rapist" due to his naming as the lead suspect.
Madeleine disappeared whilst on holiday with her family in Praia da Luz.
Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, were dining at a restaurant approximately 100 yards from their accommodation, where Madeleine, then aged three, was sleeping with her toddler twin siblings.
When Kate returned to check on the children, Madeleine was gone.
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