The search for a missing preschooler is being scaled back after police concede the boy is likely dead after wandering away from an outback homestead. August, known as Gus, went missing from his family's sheep station in the remote South Australian mid-north on Saturday afternoon. "Whilst we've all been hoping for a miracle, that miracle has not eventuated," SA Police Assistant Commissioner Ian Parrott told reporters on Friday. The preschooler's distraught family spoke earlier in the week, saying they were "struggling to comprehend what has happened" to the youngster. The adventurous boy had been playing in the sand near the family homestead when he disappeared.