The contractors, acting on behalf of the administrator of a number of Belmorgan companies, were unable however to locate a key-holder.

Five low-loader trucks left the site just over an hour later, carrying two large Caterpillar excavators and three other heavy machines.

It is understood Belmorgan trucks were also seized yesterday from a site attached to the Kemblawarra Business Park, on Shellharbour Rd.

Former Belmorgan employees have told the Mercury the site at Yallah was used to store equipment taken from other sites connected to Belmorgan companies, such as the Kemblawarra Business Park and an industrial development on Berkeley Rd, Unanderra.

Belmorgan founder John Kosseris said yesterday he had voluntarily handed back the machinery.

"We felt we couldn't pay for the equipment and we handed it back in. That was the best outcome," he said.

The equipment seizure came more than two weeks after the same contractors, from a Sydney heavy haulage company, were denied access to the Yallah site and left empty-handed.

The administrator sought a court order to access the site, but the equipment has since been moved from a yard fronting Yallah Rd to an area at the rear of the RTA access road.

Several Belmorgan companies are in the hands of receivers. David Winterbottom, of KordaMentha, has been appointed as the receiver for a number of those companies, including SPV 7 Pty Ltd - the company behind the Ambience retail and residential development at Fairy Meadow - and Kohura Pty Ltd, which was constructing the Kemblawarra Business Park. The seized equipment will be sold to repay some of the companies' debts.