World War II survivor Barbara Marincic hid for days from rescue helicopters trying to find her after she got lost in bushland and cane fields near her home.

Key points: Police divers, SES volunteers, army reserves, and locals on horseback scoured nearby properties and dams for the 83-year-old, missing for four days

Police divers, SES volunteers, army reserves, and locals on horseback scoured nearby properties and dams for the 83-year-old, missing for four days Ms Marincic, who grew up in Slovenia and now has dementia, hid from her searchers and confused the present with her experience of deadly aircraft in WWII

Ms Marincic, who grew up in Slovenia and now has dementia, hid from her searchers and confused the present with her experience of deadly aircraft in WWII She is recovering in a stable condition in the Mackay Base Hospital

After nearly four days, too tired to run, she was eventually spotted from the air, caked in mud in a cane field.

The 83-year-old went missing from her rural property in Yalboroo, north of Mackay, on Friday morning after not returning from a walk.

Police divers, SES volunteers, army reserves, and locals on horseback scoured nearby properties and dams, with the tropical heat making conditions worse.

Rescuers feared the worst, but she was found alive on Monday afternoon just two kilometres from home — scratched, bruised, and dehydrated, but in an otherwise remarkable condition.

Ms Marincic's daughter Barbara Farren-Price said her family was overjoyed to be reunited after a horror weekend searching for their missing relative.

"I broke down and said 'if you don't find her today, she's dead'. This was on Saturday," Ms Farren-Price said.

Barbara Marincic was spotted from the air after she spent several days lost and hiding. ( Supplied: RACQ CQ Rescue )

She said her mother, who grew up in Slovenia and now has dementia, had become confused after getting lost and started running from her searchers, confusing the present with her experience of deadly aircraft in the war.

"She is a WWII child, so the helicopter that was trying to help her she was running from."

Drinking from puddles to survive

Ms Marincic was eventually found in a field surrounded by tall stalks of sugar cane.

"[By] the fourth day she was that tired she couldn't run from the helicopter," Ms Farren-Price said.

"And when she was going to the field she was a bit slower. So they found her.

"She was definitely hiding … and that's what she would have been doing for three days.

"She's a miracle, she drank water from the mud."

Barbara Marincic was found lying in a cane field, caked in mud by a CQ Rescue Helicopter. ( Supplied: RACQ CQ Rescue )

RACQ CQ Rescue helicopter crewman Ben McAuley said it was incredible Ms Marincic survived — considering the hot conditions, disorientation, and lack of food she endured.

"After the four days of someone not being found with no food and no water, yeah, we weren't expecting to find anyone alive," he said.

"It was quite a big shock when we got right next to her and she was moving.

"She's very resilient for an old lady, she's done very well."

Community pulled together

Ms Farren-Price praised the efforts of emergency services and locals who helped find her mother.

"Everybody has just been utterly amazing," she said.

She said the community threw their support behind her family — from supplying food to her family and the search party, to keeping their spirits up.

"This young girl, she was on a horse, she went for days looking for her," Ms Farren-Price said.

"Where they went were treacherous places … but because of their local knowledge they actually covered a lot of ground.

"Everybody in our neighbourhood looked in their houses, their cars, their sheds, and they didn't stop."

A happy ending

Ms Farren-Price said she had braced for the worst but the strength of the local community kept her spirits up.

"We had a lot of people we saw on the streets and they said 'we're going to find her, we're not going to give up'," she said.

"I had a meltdown thinking we're not going to find her. But how could I could I give up when nobody else did?"

After the several day ordeal, family members are ecstatic Barbara is home and safe. ( ABC News: Melanie Groves )

She said she was overwhelmed when she heard the good news.

"My husband rang me, because I was with someone else trying to find her, and he goes 'come home straight away'.

"I just broke down and I was shaking because I thought she was dead.

"He looked at me and he had a bit of a smile on his face and as soon as he told me I just screamed."

Barbara Marincic's family are overjoyed to be reunited. ( ABC News: Melanie Groves )

Ms Marincic is recovering in a stable condition in the Mackay Base Hospital, laughing with her family as she tells them she's doing 'very good'.

"She's laughing and everyone that comes in she says 'what's all the fuss about?'," Ms Farren-Price said.

"Her renal function was normal, her heart rate [is normal], and the only thing that was a bit higher was her blood pressure."