Police came within about 50 metres of the state's most wanted man on Wednesday as they closed in on an empty house in remote bushland south-east of Tamworth.
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As the resource-intensive ground search for Malcolm Naden, 38, intensified this week, police focused their energy on a property in deep bushland down a long, dirt road between Nowendoc and Nundle.
A man police suspect was Naden - on the run from Dubbo since 2005 and wanted for alleged murder, the alleged sexual assault of a child, and for questioning over a suspected murder - was reported at the property, which is used as a weekender by a Walcha resident.
The smh.com.au has learned police got close enough to Naden on Wednesday to be sighted by an officer.
He is now described as being 177cm tall, with a medium build and brown eyes, close cropped hair, and a shaven face, but a moustache.
The operation, still based at a makeshift command centre in Nowendoc, about a kilometre from Thunderbolt's Way, was about to be scaled back before Naden was picked up by the home security system.
Specialist police and police dogs continued to search the surrounding area today where they believe they may have him hemmed in within a few kilometres.
