Mrs Dollery first heard a little boy from her town was missing when her daughter-in-law texted a couple of hours after it was first reported on September 12.

The community-minded 61-year-old swung into action.

She spent every day at the Kendall Showground and offered her cooking skills around the clock.

She even put word out her five bedroom house was available for volunteers and visitors.

The Sydney neighbours of William's foster parents took her up on the offer in those initial, frantic days of the search.

"They knew William and said he wasn't a wanderer so they were worried," she said.

"They couldn't understand that he would wander off because that wasn't in his nature."

Mrs Dollery said the spirit of Kendall was apparent in the search.

"It was mind-blowing the number of people, the cross-section from the community who were out there trying to help," she said.

While the coronial inquest has put renewed spotlight on the toddler's disappearance, and a parade of Kendall residents have been called as witnesses, she said little William is never far from her mind.

"It is just an unfinished story, an open book with no answers and that is probably the hardest thing to struggle with," Mrs Dollery said.

"At times the community has struggled, any sort of answer would be a good outcome, there is just no finish to it."

Mrs Dollery lives on busy Lorne Road around 1km from Beneroon Drive where William went missing.

She moved to Kendall nine years ago to escape the "Sydney rat race".

Her children and grandchildren soon followed.

"You could understand it if a child went missing on Lorne Road but Beneroon Drive is a dead end so it is puzzling," she said.

She wants answers for William's family and her beloved town.

"I have been caravanning in some amazing places near Alice Springs and called into pubs and they have posters of William out in the middle of the outback, so the message is out there, just no answer," she said.

This week (September 12) marks five years since the little boy's disappearance from Kendall.

His disappearance haunts a nation and hurts locals in Kendall.

The town named after the famous poet Henry Kendall was once a busy regional town.

But deregulation of the dairy industry gutted the town of services.

It didn't die though, Kendall not only survived deregulation but has thrived due to a fierce community spirit.

Despite having around 800 residents, it boasts one of the best op shops on the coast, enviable tennis courts and a swimming pool, art and culture, a winning football team and a spirit that would rival any town.

Yet it may forever be known to Australians as a place where an adorable toddler mysteriously vanished.

Cafe owner Janelle Nosworthy said William's disappearance is "always in the background".

"People are very sympathetic to what happened," she said.

But the town is resilient.

"It is something that happened in Kendall, not to Kendall so people do carry on as normal."

Locals say while in the initial 12 months after William disappeared parents held their children closer, things went back to normal after that.

Mandy Barr who regularly picks up her nieces and nephews at Kendall Public School said the anniversary was remembered though.

"I think it has had a big impact on Kendall, we are a quiet village and the kids are safe," she said.

The Deputy State Coroner overseeing the coronial inquest Harriet Grahame has used the anniversary to release new photos of William taken by his foster mother on the morning he vanished.

She also released a full transcript of an interview by Detective Sergeant Laura Beacroft and Detective Senior Constable Louise Rodden of Strike Force Rosann with long-term Kendall resident Ronald Chapman on April 4, 2017.

Mr Chapman told the inquest he is 100 per cent sure he saw William on the day he disappeared being driven away in a car by a woman.

Locals interviewed for this story don't like to speculate on what happened, all they hope is the little boy who mysteriously vanished from their backyard finds his way home.