Denise and Bruce Morcombe address the media in Palmwoods on Sunday morning following the charging of a man with their son's murder.

Denise and Bruce Morcombe address the media in Palmwoods on Sunday morning following the charging of a man with their son's murder. Photo: Michelle Smith

The man accused of the abduction and murder of missing schoolboy Daniel Morcombe will defend charges against him, his lawyer says.

The 41-year-old truck driver made a brief appearance in the Brisbane Magistrates Court this morning where his matter was adjourned until September 26.

Magistrate Brendan Butler demanded the man appear before him after hearing he was still in the watchhouse cells. His laywer had said he did not need him to be brought in.

Daniel Morcombe.

Daniel Morcombe. Photo: Andy Zakeli

Wearing a prison-issued brown tracksuit top and jeans, the accused sat in the prisoner's dock, his eyes cast downwards.

His shoulder-length hair was matted and partly covered his face.

After the appearance the man's lawyer, Tim Meehan, told media outside court his client would defend the charges.

Mr Meehan said he held instructions to make a bail application in the Supreme Court.

The man cannot apply for bail in the Magistrates Court.

He cannot be named because he is charged with a sex offence.

The man's identity is also supressed by a non-publication order imposed in the Brisbane Coroner's Court, which earlier this year held an inquest into Daniel's death.

Earlier this morning busloads of grim faced SES volunteers arrived at an area of the Glass House Mountains in the Sunshine Coast hinterland to continue searching for Daniel's remains.

Daniel's parents, Bruce and Denise Morcombe, will hold a press conference on the Sunshine Coast at midday today.

The number of volunteers is expected to be greater than the 50 police and SES members who scoured dense bushland there yesterday, a day after police charged the 41-year-old man with Daniel's murder.

Daniel was 13 when he went missing while waiting at an unofficial bus stop in Woombye, on the Sunshine Coast, on an afternoon in December 2003 .

Bruce and Denise Morcombe said yesterday the breakthrough in the state's biggest missing persons investigation shocked them.

They did not attend today's court appearance.

“We have already seen the person that's been charged so I'm not sure there's necessarily anything to gain from that other than it being extremely upsetting to us and extending the pain,” Mr Morcombe said yesterday.

“We know who it is [who's been charged]; we've already given him the glare.”

The alleged killer, a Perth man who was a codenamed person of interest when he fronted a coronial inquest earlier this year, faces charges of murder, child stealing, deprivation of liberty, indecent treatment of a child and interfering with a corpse.

The Morcombe family’s lawyer this morning pleaded with the public and media not to do anything that would prejudice the court hearing.

‘‘It’s important everyone respects the process because the worst thing that could happen to them is if someone publishes information that wasn’t appropriate, and that gave the person charged (the chance) to run a legal argument that they can’t face court,’’ Mr Boyce said.

A top forensic pathologist, Queensland Health's Peter Ellis, arrived at the search site yesterday afternoon. Professor Ellis helped with victim identification after the Bali bombings, the 2004 Asian tsunami and the 2009 Papua New Guinea plane crash.

The area being searched is dense, swampy bushland and includes a lake. A police cordon was set up at the end of a dirt road near the search site.

“It's incredibly difficult terrain,” a police media spokeswoman said.

“At the moment everything is being done by hand.”

Mr and Mrs Morcombe yesterday fronted reporters outside their Palmwoods home to thank police, the public and media for their support over the past eight years.

Mrs Morcombe said the family had not yet found closure as hoped to find Daniel's remains so that he could be given a proper funeral.

“He [Daniel] needs to be buried in dignity,” she said.

Last year, the inquest was told more than 100 investigators had worked on the "huge" police operation to find answers on Daniel's disappearance, interviewing more than 10,000 people.

The inquest heard more than 18,000 police job logs – recording individual pieces of information – had been generated during the investigation.

In 2008, business leaders joined with police to offer a temporary $1 million reward for information that led to a conviction.

Despite the long wait for answers, Mr Morcombe said the family had never given up hope of learning the truth.

He said he hoped Daniel's legacy was greater awareness of child safety issues.

Premier Anna Bligh paid tribute to Mr and Mrs Morcombe's bravery.