Melbourne, Jan 21 (ANI): A thief, who unknowingly stole a car with a baby in the back seat, had to call for help after she would not stop crying.

Thirteen-week-old Elly Harold had been left inside the car while her mother Jodie went to pay for TV repairs at an electrical repair shop at Alexandra Hills, in Brisbane's east.

Elly was asleep in the car when her mother ducked into the shop, having left the air conditioning on and the keys in the ignition, but when she returned the car was gone.

"I walked out and the car was gone, and I just said, 'my car, my baby, my car's gone, my baby ... where's my baby?'" News.com.au quoted Jodie Harold, 25, as saying.

Police issued a Statewide "amber alert" sending a description of the car to the media, and asking the public to be on the lookout.

But when the thief realised that he had kidnapped a baby, he used Jodie's mobile phone to call her sister-in-law, and told her that baby Elly would not stop crying.

The car was found abandoned in nearby Wellington Point parked under a shady tree and with the windows down, where baby Elly was reunited with her mom and later taken to Redlands Hospital as a precaution.

"I was 3m away from the car, it was at a guy's house, he was fixing our TV and I just had to run in and give him money for the quote," she said.

Her husband Greg agreed that it had been a harrowing day.

"It's been a stressful day, but the best possible outcome,'' he said.

The police are still hunting for the man who stole the black 2003 Holden Vectra hatchback. (ANI)