The five-week manhunt for an alleged double police murderer has turned to an area about 100 kilometres away from where he was last seen in Victoria’s High Country.

Dezi Freeman has been on the run since August 26 after killing police officers Neal Thompson and Vadim de Waart-Hottart as they and other officers served a search warrant at his home in Porepunkah.

The 56-year-old fled into dense bushland from the mountainous town but there have been no confirmed sightings of Freeman.

Hundreds of police have been searching Porepunkah, its surrounds and remote bushland to no avail.

Police confirmed on Wednesday they were in the Benalla area, about 100 kilometres west of Porepunkah, as part of a “planned operation”.

“There is no immediate risk to community safety,” Victoria Police said.

“This forms part of the ongoing investigation in the Porepunkah area in the search for Desmond Freeman.”

Police zeroed in on a property at Goomalibee, north-west of Benalla, linked to a known associate of Freeman, Seven News reports. A vehicle was also stopped by heavily armed police near Shepparton, with one person removed.

It is believed Freeman has not been found, with police providing no further comment on the operational activities.

Meanwhile, Freeman’s nephew Luke Filby, who has been estranged from his uncle since 2018, has spoken out about Freeman’s apparent mental health problems. He told the ABC’s 7.30 program that Freeman had a dark side.

“He always had this mentally ill, hidden anger about him, like this hidden anger of meltdowns,” Filby said.

“I can’t explain it … and he never liked healthcare professionals to ever get a proper diagnosis or help with it.

“[You] couldn’t visit him without him having this trauma-dumping episode and whingeing about the government and just ranting on about negative stuff and [being] really strong about his opinions.

“You’d have to walk around [on] eggshells about bringing up your own opinions.

“His court hearings, gun laws, what the government’s plans were to do next, what he was going to do. We always took Dezi’s words as an over-exaggeration.

“He was extreme about it. He had to be extreme about it. It wasn’t about having the guns, it was about the laws, the gun laws, that kind of level.”

Filby said his uncle changed his name from Desmond Filby to Freeman after a falling out with his family.

“He changed his name then, to start a new life. I guess he felt that the family abandoned him, the family did him wrong,” he told 7.30.

Filby said the family was devastated over what Freeman had done.

“Such a big impact what my uncle did, destroying these families, friends, even his own family,” he said.

“He destroyed them … cowardly … didn’t even care.”

“It’s her brother, [it’s] really upsetting. [My mother] was crying, she was shocked. She’s the one that gave me the terrible news.”

Police have scaled back the search for Freeman, with officer numbers falling from more than 400 to about 200.

Officers, including specialist teams from interstate and abroad, have searched more than 40 square kilometres of land by foot and air in the hunt for Freeman.

Police have received 1400 pieces of information from the public and daily offers of resource support from commissioners around Australia and New Zealand.

Chief Commissioner Mike Bush conceded the search was becoming more challenging as time wore on but said authorities remained determined.

“We will not give up until we find that person,” Bush said on Monday.

“This has really damaged our police service and the community and we are determined to bring this matter to a conclusion.”

The names of Thompson and de Waart-Hottart were earlier added alongside 175 others at the Police Memorial on St Kilda Road to mark National Police Remembrance Day.

Mount Buffalo National Park remains closed but visitors have been allowed to return to Porepunkah.

People in the area have been advised to remain vigilant and not approach Freeman, who is considered armed and dangerous, if they spot him.

Victoria Police have offered a $1 million reward and the possibility of indemnity for information leading to his capture, the largest financial offer in the state’s history for facilitating an arrest.

Freeman’s wife Mali and a 15-year-old boy were previously arrested and released without charge.

-with AAP