They held each other's hands and clung tightly to the one hope they have left. Somewhere, they believed, their little girl was safe. Somewhere, Madeleine was being looked after. Eleven days on, Kate and Gerry McCann summoned the strength to block out the unthinkable in this endless, fruitless search for their four-year-old daughter.

Then they shared their hope with the rest of the world - and told how they could not even consider going home until Madeleine is found.

By the time Mr McCann had finished speaking his knuckles were white in his wife's constant grip. His voice was beginning to falter and his eyes were screwed shut against the blinding sun.

But he was determined to stay in front of the cameras until he was sure he had got his message across. Until he and his wife saw "concrete evidence to the contrary", he said, they would continue to believe that Madeleine was "safe and being looked after".

A few hours before last night's dramatic developments, anyone who wondered how this once-happy mother and father have been coping with what happened had only to share these few minutes with them.

They have become familiar faces in the cobbled streets of Praia da Luz and their appearance never fails to invite respect, sometimes applause, as they make their way silently and privately around the Algarve resort.

This was different, though. They were in command now and they were about to change the rules. Scores of distraught parents might have touched hearts with TV appeals over the years, but few have conducted themselves like the McCanns.

From the depths of despair - and from a tragedy that was visibly destroying them day by day - they emerged to take control. Not just of their emotions, but of the way they will now proceed at this crushingly-difficult time.

The McCanns have sworn not to leave Portugal until they find their missing daughter Madeleine. Friends and family believe they will keep their word

A few moments before 8am, they strode side by side into the sunlight to stand within yards of the apartment from which Madeleine disappeared on May 3.

Hand in hand, they ducked under the police tape which still seals the area, and steeled themselves to face an audience which, they knew, would be watching around the world.

Mr McCann carried some handwritten notes but barely even glanced at them. In his role as a consultant cardiologist he must have prepared countless patients and relatives for difficult news, and he spoke with a clarity and straightforwardness which seemed almost professional. But bad news can never have been as hard as this, and certainly never so personal.

He told us how he and Kate, who are Roman Catholics, had drawn strength from the "spiritual outpouring" which continues to flood over them from family, friends, strangers and supporters.

Mr McCann candidly admitted that he and his wife, a GP, were deliberately ignoring the negative to concentrate on the positive.

They had been counselled by a trauma specialist, who, he said, "enabled us to utilise tools to help us look forward, to try to put the speculation out of our heads and channel everything into looking forward".

How were they coping? "It's been extremely difficult," he replied, with unintentional understatement. But the support they were receiving - and the fact that lawyers had now arrived to handle the everyday mechanics - had suddenly lifted a great burden. It had allowed them to focus, he said, "on our own physical and mental well-being, and that of our family".

The strain has worked visible change on both Madeleine's parents, but Kate McCann

in particular has appeared at times almost unable to stand - until yesterday

We already had a flavour of how difficult that has been, and how heart-rending. The couple's two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie, wave at the TV when pictures of their sister appear, and blow kisses at the posters which bear her image in every street and restaurant around the busy resort. Kate McCann is still buying treats for them in threes - three rag dolls, three ice creams ... and is seldom seen without

Kate McCann is still buying treats for them in threes - three rag dolls, three ice creams

Madeleine's favourite cuddly toy, often pressing it softly to her cheek. The first few days transformed the 38-year-old blonde from a happy, laughing mother in those family pictures to a gaunt, haunted figure who could not bring herself to eat or even sleep while her little girl was missing.

Yesterday, however, she appeared to have found renewed strength. Her head wasn't bowed now and her voice was clear. Someone asked how long she would stay in Portugal. "I can't even consider going home at the moment," she said. "Absolutely can't even let it enter my head."

Whatever happened over the weekend, and whatever help the trauma specialist offered, she was clearly fortified.

Back home in England, Madeleine's aunt Philomena McCann said: "They are being counselled on what to do for the good of their health, and that's helping them get through. But the couple are strong and have strength of character that is not apparent on a day-to-day basis. Kate is very strong. She will not give up - she will pursue Madeleine for ever if need be."

The previous 24 hours certainly seemed to be a turning point - you got the impression for the first time that they had been able to step back a little from the tragedy engulfing them, and to plan a strategy for survival.

The change in the McCanns from an earlier press conference last week was notable

Perhaps that is not surprising. In their jobs back home they are both used to organising people, taking the lead, and making difficult choices. Here, they have been virtually helpless, and it has massively increased their frustration. So speaking to the media in such raw detail yesterday, we were told, was the first part of that strategy. It was an idea which came from them, not the police. Likewise, it was the McCanns who decided they would take questions for the first time, rather than simply reading a statement.

Mr McCann was careful to praise the Portuguese police operation but said he could not discuss what they were doing. He also thanked the media for its coverage of the case, perhaps the only weapon the couple have in keeping public awareness high. They knew that even the tiniest detail, or triggered memory, could so easily lead to a breakthrough.

But it hadn't come yet - or if it had, the Portuguese police were being astonishingly relaxed about it. Quite how much information they were giving the couple about their investigation was unclear, although if it was anything like the detail they had been making public, it would be scant indeed.

At around the time the McCanns faced the media yesterday, Portuguese TV reported that police were "close to a conclusion" in the inquiry. Chief Inspector Oligario Sousa said: "We have two or three hypotheses and one in particular is very strong." He did not reveal what it was.

A friend of the family summed it up like this: "We have a great many questions and not many answers." For the moment, therefore, the McCanns had just their positive thoughts to cling to. If only they could turn them to reality.