Missing Canberra teen Kathleen Bautista has been found alive in the ACT's west, after crashing her car down an embankment and surviving on creek water in bushland for seven days.

The 19-year-old was last seen driving a black hatchback at Chapman in Canberra's south on the morning of Saturday September 5.

She was found by search and rescue members near the Cotter Reserve area about 10:25am the following Friday.

19-year-old Canberra woman Kathleen Bautista has been found alive. ( Supplied: ACT Policing )

Search and Rescue First Constable Lachlan Ryan said Ms Bautista crashed her car on Settlement Road 500 metres away from the Cotter Reserve, where it fell 15 metres down an embankment into a shallow creek.

Members of the SES found the car on Friday, but it was not until more respondents arrived that they saw Ms Bautista's hand raised on a nearby ridge.

Mr Ryan said she survived by drinking water from the creek, but said she had not eaten in six days.

She was taken to hospital dehydrated and suffering from exposure. She also sustained leg and abdominal injuries from the crash, but was in a stable condition.

Police and SES said the injuries she sustained prevented her from walking to safety.

"She did have injuries from the collision, but having said that she was lucid," Mr Ryan said.

"We had a clear conversation with her. She was chatty and even started telling jokes."

There were tears of joy at Dickson in Canberra's north on Friday morning as her boyfriend and other friends embraced when they heard the news.

At the time Ms Bautista's family and friends had been distributing 30,000 flyers seeking information on her whereabouts.

Friends of Kathleen Bautista's family embraced as they learned the news Ms Bautista had been found alive. ( ABC News )

Her father, Ronnie Bautista, said he was "ecstatic" when he heard the news.

"I am just really very happy and over the moon that Kat's been found safe and sound," he said.

"I think it was the loudest scream that I did when I heard the news.

"We will be forever indebted to everyone involved and of course the community. That has really helped us, kept us going, giving us support."

Earlier on Friday police moved their command post from Lady Denman Drive to the Cotter Catchment after reanalysing Ms Bautista's phone signal history.

Mr Ryan said the phone signals were pivotal to finding Ms Bautista.

"Within 45 to 50 minutes of tasking today an SES crew located Kat's car on settlement road in the Cotter Catchment area," he said on Friday.

The gully where Kathleen Bautista crashed her car. ( ABC News: Jordan Hayne )

Officers and SES volunteers had spent the previous six days scouring bushland near Black Mountain in Canberra's north, where they believed the last signal from her phone was detected.

At the time, officers said they held grave concerns for her welfare, following text messages sent to her boyfriend Sajana Abeygunawardena and family on the morning she went missing.

"She needs to know that we just love her and whatever she does doesn't matter to us," Mr Abeygunawardena said on Friday morning.

Ms Bautista's disappearance triggered a strong response from the Canberra community.

Police praised the hard work of the SES and the members for the public who assisted with the search.