"Material collected" during three days of searching a reservoir for Madeleine McCann will be sent for testing in Germany, Portuguese police have said.

It comes as the operation ended with tents being taken down and heavy machinery removed.

Officers had been searching the reservoir and surrounding scrubland after receiving "certain tip-offs".

It is not yet known if anything significant was found, but a number of bags were taken away.

Police said the search "resulted in the collection of some material that will be subject to the competent expertise", and that it would "be handed over to the German authorities".

Holes - believed to have been dug for soil samples - were found in the search area when it re-opened.

A police boat entered the water at the Arade dam on the first day of the search on Tuesday, and teams began to dig on a peninsula on Wednesday afternoon.

A view of the area around the Arade dam in Portugal in 2013. Picture by: travelpixs / Alamy Stock Photo

A source close to the investigation said there was "nothing to report" after the search, which involved cutting back a vast area of undergrowth and using rakes and pickaxes, as well as sniffer dogs.

German prosecutor Christian Wolters added: "Of course there is a certain expectation, but it is not high."

He said it was important to show that authorities were investigating the case.

The reservoir is about 50 kilometres from where Madeleine went missing during a family holiday in Praia da Luz in the Algarve in May 2007.

"Of course we are still looking for the body," prosecutor Mr Wolters said. "We're not just looking for that, of course. There are other things too.

"Any discovery of clothing could help the investigation."

Candles are placed next to a photo of Madeleine McCann inside the Church of Nossa Senhora da Luz in Praia Da Luz, Portugal on the anniversary of her disappearance in 2017. Picture by: Steve Parsons/PA Archive/PA Images

German prosecutors last year named Christian B an official suspect in Madeleine's disappearance.

It is claimed the convicted child abuser and drug dealer used to visit the reservoir.

Christian B is currently in prison for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve from where Madeleine went missing.

However, he has not been charged with any crime related to the British girl's disappearance.

Reporting by: IRN

Main image: Missing British child Madeleine McCann. Picture by: Collect/Handout / Alamy Stock Photo