As the search for the body of missing three-year-old William Tyrrell enters its third day on the New South Wales mid-north coast, detectives have revealed they have seized a major piece of evidence.

The case of the boy who went missing in his Spider-Man suit has captured the nation’s attention since he disappeared while playing in the garden of his foster grandmother’s home in 2014.

Early Wednesday morning, NSW police confirmed they had recently seized a car as they continue to probe new leads in the case.

The Mazda was taken from a home at Gymea, in Sydney’s south – 375 kilometres from where William was last seen. Police have been examining the grey hatchback since they towed it away last Tuesday.

“A vehicle is undergoing forensic examination after recently being seized by Strike Force Rosann detectives,” the force said in a statement.

“The vehicle was taken to a secure facility, where it is undergoing extensive forensic examinations and analysis, which is expected to take several weeks.”

The Mazda was towed from a home in Gymea, in Sydney’s south. Photo: NSW Police

The ABC reports that forensic teams have spent the night spraying a chemical called luminol which could help them detect traces of blood at the Kendall home where William was last seen.

On Tuesday, police brought in a mechanical sift to dig up a garden located under the second-storey balcony of the Benaroon Drive property. They also led cadaver dogs around the area.

Police Minister David Elliott was asked about a report that police were investigating whether William died after falling from a balcony at the house.

“With a mysterious incident like this, every single option has to be investigated, every scenario has to be reviewed and tested,” Mr Elliott said.

“Let’s hope whatever the conclusion is gives closure to the families and community.”

Police Commissioner Mick Fuller confirmed there had been a significant breakthrough in the case, saying he was confident police would solve the mystery of the boy’s fate.

“There is certainly one person in particular that we are looking closely at,” he told Sydney radio 2GB on Tuesday.

The findings of a coronial inquest into William’s disappearance, which concluded last year, are yet to be handed down. Police said they had seized the car under a Coronial Order.

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Ten reporter Lia Harris, who interviewed the foster parents for her 2019 podcast Where’s William Tyrrell? said she had recently received a subpoena from the coroner’s court for “a very broad range of material”.

“Everything that I had uncovered in my research for the podcast, audio files, documents, everything, including those raw tapes of my extensive interviews with the foster parents,” she told 2GB on Tuesday.

“To me, it signalled that they had either taken a new direction or they had a new theory they were working on.”

A $1 million reward for information on the case still stands.

-with AAP