The body of a 26-year-old man attacked by a crocodile in the Northern Territory has been found in the Mary River.

Police recovered the body early this morning in the area he was last seen.

Sean Cole, an IT worker from Darwin, had been celebrating a friend's 30th birthday on Saturday at the Mary River Wilderness Retreat, about halfway between Darwin and Kakadu National Park, when he was snatched by the five-metre long saltwater crocodile.

He was one of two male partygoers swimming across the muddy river about 3pm.