The father of a five-year-old girl who sparked a huge search operation when she ran away from her Gold Coast home has thanked all those involved with locating her.

Jocelyn was found safe and well this afternoon by a member of the public after an Amber Alert was issued on Sunday night.

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More than 150 police and SES volunteers had searched for the young girl through the night.

By this morning many locals had joined the search as did players from the Gold Coast Suns AFL team, as their home ground at Carrara was near the area being searched.

Jocelyn's father Steve Lewis said she was found about two kilometres away from her Carrara home.

He was carrying Jocelyn in his arms as he faced the media to thank everyone involved in the search.

They were greeted by cheers from those assembled at the search coordination point.

"That's why I've come out, to thank the community for everything they've done," Mr Lewis said.

"I was getting very concerned it was going the other way. Thank you very much to everyone.

"We're going to clean her up and get her a good meal."

Police said the girl had been spotted a number of times during the search operation.

Earlier, her aunty said Jocelyn's favourite game was hide and seek, and she might hide if she was lost and scared.

'After she was spotted, she still tried to get away'

Inspector Scott MacQueen thanked the public and the media for their help in finding the little girl, who has a medical condition.

"She was observed by a member of the public who was down in that area searching, recognised her and in true Jocelyn fashion she still tried to get away from the member of the public who spotted her," he said.

He said she had been checked by paramedics, who found she had suffered only cuts and scratches.

"It's a wonderful effort. For SES we had 12 different groups from Moreton shire to Beaudesert to Tamborine to Redlands," Inspector MacQueen said.

"We've had hundreds of people that have responded to the Amber Alert that's gone out.

"Something we wouldn't have achieved without the public and the media promoting the Amber Alert."