The youngest of the notorious Snowtown killers, James Vlassakis, has been seen for the first time in decades ahead of his release from prison.

The 46-year-old was filmed walking through the carpark of the Adelaide Pre-release Centre and driving away in a white car before returning to the facility.

Vlassakis was moved to the Adelaide Pre-release centre last month and he will remain there until his eventual release into the community.

It followed a South Australia Parole Board ruling last month to uphold a decision to release Vlassakis, who was serving life with a minimum term of 26 years.

Previously proposed parole conditions require him to spend a period at the Adelaide Pre-Release Centre, which is designed to assist offenders with community reintegration.

He pleaded guilty to four of the 11 Snowtown murders, which took place between 1992 and 1999. He was aged 18 when he became involved in the killings.

James Vlassakis was 18 when he was involved in the Snowtown murders. Photo: 7NEWS

Vlassakis was found to have been heavily influenced to commit the crimes by John Bunting, who along with Robert Wagner was found guilty of the bulk of the murders.

The bodies of eight of their victims were found dismembered in barrels inside a disused bank vault in Snowtown, north of Adelaide, in 1999.

Bunting and Wagner were sentenced to multiple terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

“Mr Vlassakis, while a young man, came under the influence of Mr Bunting, a person who he looked up to as a father figure,” Parole Administrative Review Commissioner David Cameron KC noted in the decision.

“It is clear that this same power dynamic cannot be replicated, given Mr Bunting was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole and that Mr Vlassakis is now of a more mature age.

“It must also be acknowledged that Mr Vlassakis demonstrated excellent behaviour while in custody and there is no suggestion that he displayed any violent behaviour during this time.”

SA Attorney-General Kyam Maher at the time said he would review what further steps could be taken to keep Vlassakis behind bars, but noted the decision had already been thoroughly considered by multiple review processes.

“It is traumatic for people involved, the families of victims, of communities in relation to the bodies in the barrel cases,” he told reporters last month.

“It is a very difficult thing for those who are still around who remember what happened so well.

“The gravity and the effect this has had on SA and the need for community safety, were always the primary concerns of the state government.”

Maher said those found most responsible for the murders would never be released from prison.

The Parole Board’s decision in August 2025 to release Vlassakis upon the expiration of his non-parole sentence was challenged by Maher and subsequently overturned by then-Parole Administrative Review Commissioner Michael David KC.

That decision was set aside by South Australia’s Court of Appeal in June, and a fresh review was ordered.

In initially deciding to release Vlassakis, the Parole Board noted he had completed all recommended core programs and only had two behavioural incidents recorded, both of which appeared to be minor.

“Reports indicate that his behaviour was consistently excellent throughout his imprisonment, being described as a quiet, compliant, polite and respectful prisoner,” the board stated.

In 2014, Vlassakis was transferred to cottage accommodation within prison which required daily living skills to help prepare him for the outside world.

He tested positive in a urine drug test to methamphetamine in 2017.

–with AAP