Matt Doran disappearance: Sunrise's caption clue while journalist ...

A closed caption clue shows how Seven was forced to suddenly replace TV reporter Matt Doran on Sunrise after his sudden disappearance - as cops frantically searched for the missing star.

The high-profile Sydney journalist was reported as missing on Tuesday morning after he didn't show up for his 5.30am shift to cover the Hunter Valley wedding bus crash live from the area. 

After a desperate police search, including at his Singleton hotel, officers found the star reporter a short time later in a local cafe. Doran has since taken personal leave from the network, and was not present on air this past week. 

Viewers would never have known anything was amiss as Sunrise hosts Natalie Barr and newly inaugurated Matt Shirvington smoothly crossed to Doran's replacement, Liam Tapper, at the beginning of Tuesday's bulletin. 

However, closed captions reveal how Seven made last-minute changes to the program in order to account for Doran's absence.

According to the captions - shared with transcription websites such as Tveeder - Sunrise hosts were supposed to say: 'Live now to our team of reporters this morning at the key locations. First to Matt Doran at the crash scene vigil in Greta.'

Instead, Shirvington said: 'First to you Liam Tapper at Cessnock Police Station.' 

All free-to-air channels are legally required to provide captioning for their news and current affair programs for hearing-impaired viewers.

Each channel hires human transcribers who record the dialogue - mostly in real-time - which can then be accessed by television transcription services, or switched on by viewers on any modern device. 

The backstage revelation comes as locals shed light on officers' efforts to find Doran after he skipped work and colleagues subsequently could not locate him at his accommodation. 

Staff at a local motel told Daily Mail Australia police visited the premises on Tuesday equipped with a description of Doran's appearance. 

'He wasn't staying here, but the cops came in and said he was missing and asked us to keep an eye out for him,' the female worker said.

Another employee who works at a second motel in Singleton said she was also visited by officers, despite Doran not having a booking there. 

'They asked me to look him up in the system to check if he was a guest, but he wasn't in there,' she said.

NSW Police confirmed to Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday a search had been launched for a 40-year-old man after the Port Stephens Hunter Police District received a concern for welfare report. 

'Officers conducted inquiries and located a man a short time later. There is no further police action,' a spokesperson said.

Doran, who has a history of personal issues, was last seen speaking to members of the Singleton community on Monday afternoon at a local football ground.

Earlier, locals had seen Doran driving away from the home of newly married couple Mitchell Gaffney and Maddy Edsell, whose wedding was at the centre of the tragedy.

One eyewitness remembers the surprising way he spoke to members of the Singleton Roosters football team, for whom several wedding guests played.

'He seemed distracted when he was interviewing,' the source told Daily Mail Australia.

'He didn't want to be there.'

Doran's behaviour didn't go unnoticed by viewers, with his coverage on Monday morning - the day after the fatal crash - attracting a number of critical tweets.

Seven is yet to issue a statement about Doran's well-being; however, insiders say several factors could have contributed to his troubling behaviour.

One suggested Doran may have struggled with the confronting nature of the wedding bus crash tragedy.

Doran and his wife, Today show producer Kendall Bora, were believed to have been spending the long weekend at their $1.75million holiday home in Berowra Waters, north of Sydney, meaning he was one of the first reporters on the scene early Monday.

His live cross to Channel Seven's studios was about 1km from the crash site where 10 wedding guests died.

'You do wonder if that kind of job might be too much for someone prone to emotional stress,' a Seven insider told Daily Mail Australia.

'It would traumatise anybody, but especially someone who is particularly sensitive or struggling.'

Adding to that, Doran - until recently - was being touted as a possible replacement for retiring Sunrise host David Koch. The role instead went to Matt Shirvington.

Doran had been assigned to cover the bus crash on the same day Shirvington made his debut as Sunrise anchor alongside Natalie Barr.

Radio host Kyle Sandilands speculated Doran had struggled with being bumped from contention amid the fallout from his infamous Adele interview in late 2021.

'He's still dirty that Shirvo got the big Kochie job. Because [Doran is] the Weekend Sunrise guy, so you would have thought he'd have been in the running for Kochie's job,' Sandilands said.

'But no, not after the Adele fiasco,' he added, referring to Doran's disastrous interview with the Grammy-winning singer during which he admitted he hadn't listened to her album prior to the sit-down.

The British musician subsequently walked out in anger and the interview, which had reportedly cost the network $1million, never aired.

The incident comes just weeks after Doran listed his lavish two-bedroom Bellevue Hill apartment, in Sydney's ritzy eastern suburbs, for sale.

The home is set to be auctioned by BresicWhitney on June 24 with a price guide of $1.8million.

Doran, who started his career as a police reporter at the Herald Sun, joined Seven in 2017 after spending almost eight years in Network Ten's newsroom.

Two years later, he was promoted to his current role as co-host of Weekend Sunrise alongside Monique Wright, after intermittently filling in for weekday host David Koch.

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