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Whether missing Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez died in a tragic accident or met with foul play remains a mystery.

"There is simply insufficient evidence before me to substantiate or exclude either theory at this point in time," NSW State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan said on Friday.

Delivering her inquest findings, she found the 18-year-old was dead but was unable to determine the cause or manner of his death.

She found he likely died on or shortly after June 1, 2019, at Byron Bay.

Excluding the possibility of suicide, the coroner also said there was no reason for him to intentionally vanish.

"The evidence presents a picture of Theo as a young man who was universally loved and had a bright future ahead of him."

Police have theorised Theo clambered up the beachside cliffs, dropped his phone then fell and was swept out to sea, something his family says goes against the teen's sensible, risk-averse nature.

They found it inconceivable that he would walk alone through dense unknown bushland in the middle of the night and do something as dangerous as climbing up a cliff face.

Instead, they suspect he met foul play after meeting a person or persons who guided him to the beach, caused his death and disposed of his body.

Theo was reportedly last seen about 11pm on May 31 when he was ejected from the Cheeky Monkeys bar after being deemed to be "approaching intoxication".

The coroner found no basis to criticise the decision, noting the bar's liquor licensing obligations and its policy of erring on the side of caution.

Police were alerted to his disappearance six days later, when he failed to return to his hostel and couldn't be found or contacted.

"A large-scale missing persons investigation was conducted by the NSW Police with ongoing and invaluable support provided by Theo's family, the local community in Byron, and the Belgian authorities," the coroner said.

Despite extensive land and sea searches, the only trace of Theo found was his grey Puma cap in Arakwal National Park, behind Tallow Beach.

Evidence placed the teen on a steep headland below the town's famous lighthouse around midnight.

Theo was tracked, using data gleaned from Google location services and his mobile phone connections, to a local sporting field after being ejected from the bar.

He then charted a route through the national park to the beach below the headland, before the data shows his phone climbing the steep ascent towards the lighthouse.

The last GPS data places his phone near the cliffs at 12.05am.

"There is user activity on Theo's phone for approximately an hour after this point, until 12.56am, showing him accessing YouTube and exchanging messages with friends and family," the coroner said.

While she found that Theo's cautious character was inconsistent with him taking the very dark and obviously dangerous pathway alone, she also noted his online activity between midnight and 12.56am.

This included watching a clip of a comedy show and sending light-hearted messages which was inconsistent with him feeling afraid or in any kind of danger.

Police in February announced a $500,000 reward for anyone with significant information about Theo's case.

"It can only be hoped that this reward will provide an incentive to persons who may have important information but who have so far been reluctant to come forward, to contact the police and help solve the terrible mystery of what happened to Theo on that night."

She concluded by making recommendations to cut the red tape involved in searching for missing persons.

This included considering introducing or expanding powers relating to CCTV footage and to obtaining information from technology such as smart phones and computers.

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Five years after Bruce Saunders' body was found in a woodchipper, Gregory Lee Roser has been found guilty of his murder.

All that was left of Mr Saunders were his legs sticking out of the chipper when emergency services arrived at a property north of Brisbane in November 2017.

Roser, 63, did not deny that Mr Saunders was murdered at his five-week Brisbane Supreme Court trial.

Roser said he had "shamefully" assisted with disposing of the body in the chipper then lied about it, telling police that it had been an industrial accident.

However, Roser accused another man - Peter Koenig - of killing Mr Saunders while they were clearing trees at the Goomboorian property near Gympie.

The jury began deliberating on Tuesday afternoon and found Roser guilty with Mr Saunders' family and friends in attendance on Friday morning.

The Crown alleged that Sharon Graham asked her lovers Roser and Koenig to kill her ex-partner Mr Saunders and make it look like an accident in a bid to claim his $750,000 life insurance.

Roser said he refused despite pressure from Graham and Koenig to murder the "happy go lucky" Mr Saunders.

However, Koenig claimed Roser repeatedly bludgeoned Mr Saunders with a metal bar as they finished work at the property.

Koenig told the court that he helped carry the body to the chipper because Roser had a bad back.

Koenig said he fed Mr Saunders into the machine, leaving the legs sticking out to make it look more like an accident.

"Just to leave a bit of Bruce... for the police to see," he said.

Mr Saunders was killed after becoming embroiled in a "love quadrangle", the court heard.

Graham was living with Mr Saunders albeit in separate bedrooms and was in a relationship with Roser while also having "intimate relations" with Koenig.

Mr Saunders was still "besotted" with Graham, the court heard, making out his will and life insurance policy in her favour.

Graham, 61, and Roser had pleaded not guilty to murder before the former successfully applied for a separate trial.

Koenig pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder earlier this year.

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Thunderstorms have drenched northern NSW, raising the threat of flooding to yet another area of the state.

More than 100mm of rain fell within six hours on Friday at Moree, where moderate flooding is possible by Saturday evening.

Meanwhile, western Sydney residents are expecting minor flooding to begin on the rising Hawkesbury-Nepean rivers on Friday.

Several suburbs including Windsor, Penrith, and North Richmond have been told to monitor the conditions.

The Hawkesbury-Nepean region has already suffered two major floods this year.

The threat is being exacerbated by widespread showers and moderate falls, mostly about the slopes and ranges on Friday.

Severe thunderstorms are possible on the western slopes and parts of the state's northeast, the Bureau of Meteorology says.

"Another low pressure system is set to form over southern NSW and that will drive further showers and storms into mid-next week," senior meteorologist Jonathan How said.

"Thunderstorms have been quite hit and miss, but some locations have seen more than 100mm (rainfall)."

Major flooding was occurring in the Brewarrina shire, Warren, far western town Tilpa and along the Murray.

Moama, the sister town to Victoria's Echuca, has been the focus of the flood threat in recent days.

The river passed major flood levels late on Wednesday night and continues to slowly rise towards the 94.77m height of a 1993 flood, the area's second-worst on record.

The bureau expects it to reach around 95m next week, still below the 96.2m height of its worst flood in 1870.

Hundreds of people have been ordered to evacuate Moama and surrounds this week.

The flooding threat comes as the NSW government presses the federal government to share funding for the proposed $1.6 billion raising of the Warragamba Dam on a tributary of the Nepean River.

"This is an important project for the protection of property and lives in western Sydney," NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet told 2GB on Friday.

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