The body of a 19-year-old man has been recovered from a state forest in New South Wales' Hunter region two days after he disappeared from his campsite.

Jay Fowler went missing on Monday morning after leaving the camp at McLeans Lookout to go for a walk in the Heaton State Forest, west of Newcastle.

His body was found this morning at the base of a nearby cliff.

Chief Inspector Greg Lindsell said it was a difficult recovery process.

"We have completed an extraction operation this afternoon using [helicopter] PolAir 5 that has come up and assisted with the retrieval," he said.

"The body being transferred to Newcastle Department of Forensic Medicine where examination will be conducted in the next few days and we will prepare a report for the coroner."

Chief Inspector Lindsell said he had spoken to the man's parents.

"It's terrible to lose a child. Nobody expects that to happen in such tragic circumstances so they are doing remarkably well considering," he said.

"They are being very supportive of each other and have praised the emergency services which have helped."