Police believe they have found the “very decomposed” body of wanted triple-murderer fugitive Julian Ingram who had been on the run since January.

Ingram, 37, shot his pregnant former partner Sophie Quinn, her aunt Nerida Quinn and a third person at Lake Cargelligo in western NSW.

Almost five months later, police on Monday night revealed they had found the body of a man believed to be Ingram alongside a firearm and his white, getaway vehicle, about 100 kilometres from the town.

Though the body has not been formally identified, Ingram’s licence was found with it. The white ute’s licence plate also matched the registration of the vehicle Ingram used on the day of the shootings.

There had been no positive sightings of Ingram since he left town on January 22.

By the time the body was discovered by park rangers in a remote national park, it was in a “very decomposed state”, NSW Police said.

Investigations into the death will continue.

Julian Ingram was wanted over the deaths of Sophie Quinn and Nerida Quinn (pictured).

The discovery brought huge relief to residents of the rural town, population 1500, who had spent months living on edge and locking their doors.

After Ingram’s disappearance, the town was on high alert, with police warning locals to exercise extreme caution after he was thought to have gone on the run.

Mayor John Medcalf said locals  — especially the families involved — were worried he might come back.

“It’s something you never expected to happen out in this part of the world,” he said.

“We’re still going to have to live with it, but certainly this does help with a bit of closure.”

Quinn, 25, and her friend John Harris, 32, were killed when Ingram allegedly fired bullets into a dark hatchback about 4.20pm on January 22.

Soon after, Quinn’s 50-year-old aunt Nerida was shot dead at a home a two-minute drive away.

Kaleb Macqueen, 19, was also shot at the home. He survived with serious injuries.

For weeks, police scoured surrounding bushland looking for signs of Ingram, eventually expanding their search to the remote outpost of Mount Hope, a former mining town about 90 kilometres north-west of Lake Cargelligo.

As leads dried up, police offered a $250,000 award for information that could lead to his capture.

Months passed without any significant breakthroughs, leaving the town’s leadership feeling somewhat helpless as locals and outsiders asked for updates.

“Every time [police] would get a bit of a pointer, it was a dead end,” Medcalf said.

“All I could only do was support the community and make sure people were looking out for each other.”

For now, the council would continue speaking with the community about further support, he said.

-with AAP