Animal enthusiasts believe they have captured footage of the Tasmanian tiger wandering around a backyard in Adelaide - some 80 years after the animal became extinct.

The footage, which lasts about three seconds, was filmed in February this year and captures an animal roaming in Adelaide Hills in South Australia.

Those belonging to the Thylacine Awareness Group of Australia claim it is a mainland thylacine and say five different people witnessed the animal in broad daylight.

Animal enthusiasts believe they have captured footage of the extinct Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, wandering around a backyard in Adelaide in February this year

They posted the footage online to coincide with National Threatened Species Day.

'We believe our footage to be a small thylacine moving around the Adelaide Hills,' amateur researcher Neil Waters said.

'You can see the animal's head. You can see the body of the animal, it does appear to have some sort of dark discolouration on the body which may or may not be stripes.

'You can clearly see it has a very distinct hock on its rear foot, its has a long stiff pointy tail. Where the tail connects to the body is very wide, which is typical of a thylacine.'

Mr Waters claims five people have reported spotting the animal at a close range and says their description matches that of a thylacine.

The footage, which lasts about three seconds, was filmed in February this year and captures an animal roaming in Adelaide Hills in South Australia

The thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, became extinct in 1936 when the last known animal died at Hobart Zoo

Amateur researcher Neil Waters claim the footage shows a mainland thylacine and say five different people witnessed the animal in broad daylight

The thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, became extinct in 1936 when the last known animal died at Hobart zoo.

Since 1936 there have been number sightings of the thylacine but none have ever been substantiated.

Claims of sightings have occurred in Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria and rural Queensland.

Photos of the potential thylacine sightings have generally come back as feral dogs with striped markings.