The man was seen on CCTV going into a New Zealand hotel with the 22-year-old on the night she vanished.
It was thought to be the last sighting of millionaire’s daughter Grace, who was on a gap year trip.
Police in Auckland have released the man but say he remains a person of interest in the investigation.
They were also searching an apartment at the £130-a-night CityLife hotel, 300 yards from a hostel where Grace was booked to stay.
Officers said they had so far found no evidence of graduate Grace leaving the hotel and admitted “grave fears for her safety”.
Grace was last seen on Saturday night and was booked into the £10-a-night Base Backpackers party hostel until tomorrow.
On the day of her disappearance she told pals at the hostel, “I’m going to see a friend”. She messaged others saying she was meeting a guy, her family said.
It was widely thought she had made a date on Tinder, although police have refused to confirm it.
Before the CityLife Hotel footage emerged, the last confirmed sighting of Grace had been CCTV of her dressed for a night out as she left the Sky City casino complex at 7.15pm.
She was wearing a pink £5,000 prize draw wristband, suggesting she planned to return to the casino, just a few minutes from the hotel.
Her dad, millionaire property developer David, 60, has flown to New Zealand, where he made an emotional appeal for help.
Fighting back tears at a press conference, he asked for anyone with information, “any detail, no matter how small”, to come forward.
Mr Millane, from Wickford, Essex, said: “Grace is a lovely, outgoing, fun-loving, family-orientated daughter. Grace has never been out of contact for this amount of time.
“She’s usually in daily contact with either her mother, myself, her two brothers or members of the family on social media. We have been extremely concerned for her welfare.
“We are all extremely upset and it is very difficult at this time to fully describe the range of emotions we are all going through.”
Police said they had a 20-strong team scouring CCTV for evidence she left the City Life Hotel.
Matt Searle, chief executive of the Lucie Blackman Trust, which is working with Grace’s family, confirmed police were exploring the possibility she met someone online.
He said: “Speaking to the police in Auckland, it is an avenue they are looking at but we think the Tinder side of it is unsubstantiated.
“We have had literally hundreds of people telling us she’s on Tinder.
“We don’t know who this guy was or how she met him and everyone is keeping a very open mind as to how that came about.”
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