PSNI officers searching for Noah Donahoe "never" thought they would find the schoolboy in the storm drain tunnel where his naked body was eventually discovered.
A retired PSNI inspector described how his team carried out the search in order to rule out the possibility he might have entered the culvert in north Belfast.
The inquest into the death of the 14-year-old, which is being heard with a jury at Belfast Coroner's Court, is in its twelfth week.
Noah, a pupil at St Malachy's College, was found on 27 June 2020, six days after leaving his home in south Belfast on his bike to meet two friends in the Cavehill area of the city.
A post-mortem examination found the cause of death was drowning.
Retired inspector Philip Menary, who managed the PSNI hazardous environment search (HES) team, told jurors: "Our operation was to rule out any likelihood Noah was in or near the culvert."
Donal Lunny KC, the barrister representing the PSNI at the hearing, asked Mr Menary about a statement given by a constable involved in the search and rescue efforts who said he was tasked with looking for human remains around or in the culvert.
Mr Menary said a "bad choice of words" had been used in the statement as "recovering human remains was never, ever an option, it was never our purpose".
"We thought 'He is never going to be down here'," he added.
He said his team was "always going to" search the culvert "thoroughly to the very end" and were "never going to leave any trace of doubt" Noah might be in it.
