Just as Julio Ascui's family were fearing the worst five days after the avid hiker went missing in rugged bushland, the 50-year-old was putting his bush skills to good use to survive.

Mr Ascui, better known as Lester, chewed on eucalyptus leaves and drank water from a nearby stream while lost in the Grampians National Park.

Privately, the family had started to talk about the possibility of making funeral arrangements, but were putting on a brave face as they continued to search and plead publicly for information.

Their five days of anguish ended on Wednesday morning with one simple text message: "We found him".