South Australian Police say they have found skeletal remains they believe belong to suspected cold case murder victim Colleen Adams.

Key points: Colleen Adams was last seen at her home in Maitland in South Australia in 1973

Colleen Adams was last seen at her home in Maitland in South Australia in 1973 The mother of two was 24 at the time she disappeared

The mother of two was 24 at the time she disappeared Her husband had told people she had left

Detectives have been digging for remains at her former home on Bagnall Avenue at Maitland on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula.

She went missing in November 1973.

Her husband Geoffrey Adams,70, has been charged with murder.

Earlier on Thursday he appeared in the Kadina Magistrates' Court via video link from Port Pirie.

No bail request was made.

Police excavated the garden of the property today. ( ABC News: Simon Christie )

Mr Adams did not enter a plea, however a police prosecutor told the court Mr Adams had admitted to the crime he was charged with during a police interview.

Prosecutors told the court Mr Adams had identified the site which police were currently in the process of excavating.

Magistrate Ian White described the hearing as "unusual" because it was happening at the same time as an active police investigation.

Family responds to the investigation

Mrs Adams, who was 24 when she went missing, lived at the property with her husband and her two young daughters.

She was reported missing by her mother the next month.

In 1979, police declared Mrs Adams' disappearance a major crime, with no contact made and no bank accounts accessed.

In a statement, Mrs Adams' daughter Kaye said she and her mother's family would "mourn her loss" as they found a "way to heal through this".

"Today, I have finally found my mother. After 45 years of hoping, we have found her," she said.

"I am thankful that the truth has come out and I put my trust in the legal system now.

"I want today to also be one of inspiration to all those live with cold cases… today we've seen there is hope."

Police with Colleen Adams' youngest daughter Kaye at Maitland, where her remains are believed to have been found. ( ABC News: Brittany Evins )

Heather Johncock — who was 16 at the time her sister disappeared 45 years ago — described Mrs Adams as a "loving mother".

"You always live in hope that you will find her body or she will be alive but that was a very slim chance," she told ABC Radio Adelaide.

"She was a loving mother, she loved her children, she cared about her family, she always kept in contact with them, she had a bubbly personality."

Heather Johncock, Colleen Adams sister, told the ABC she was both relieved and upset. ( ABC News )

The disappearance was initially treated as a missing persons case, but Ms Johncock said she "never thought" that Ms Adams had walked out on her family as was reported at the time.

Geoffrey Adams was remanded in custody and will appear in court again on October 5.