For anyone that is interested, the cat was finally caught and returned home tonight after 3 - 4 months on the run. Pretty certain he was trapped in this one neighbours yard the whole time but as there are so many hiding spots he was hard to get.

I hired a trap, clever bastard chewed through the stocking and got the food out without setting it off. Had the trap on hire for a week to no avail. $70 odd down the drain.
Had a friend make a trap for me. He never went in it, but instead dug under it to get the food.

Will now be investing in a cat run to make sure it can never happen again.