After over three decades, the murder of six-year-old Kylie Maybury has finally been solved.

Nearly 33 years of hell are “nearly over” for the mother of a six-year-old girl raped and murdered in 1984, after her daughter’s killer finally admitted his guilt.

Gregory Keith Davies, 74, entered a plea of guilty on Monday to the rape and murder of Kylie Maybury on Melbourne Cup day in 1984.

Kylie was sent out to buy sugar and never returned home.

Julie Maybury says that when she heard Davies’ plea of guilty, she felt shocked and numb inside.

“I just broke down,” she told reporters outside the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

“I’m so totally over the moon that he’s done it.

“It’s been 33 years and he’s put me through hell.”

His admission brings a sense of long-awaited relief, she says.

“It’s just made life so much easier and all the victims out there who’ve lost their children, I can understand exactly where they stand,” she said.

"We all can move on. The dark is nearly over."

Mrs Maybury took Kylie to visit a Preston neighbour, Lorna Simpson, on November 6, 1984.

Kylie was sent out to nearby shop to buy sugar but she went missing on her walk home and never returned to her mum.

She was found dead in a Preston gutter the next day.

Davies was arrested at his Waterford Park home north of Melbourne last June and then charged with abducting and murdering Kylie.

On Monday, he entered pleas of guilty to her rape and murder on the first day of his pre-trial committal hearing in Melbourne.

One charge was withdrawn by prosecutors.

Magistrate Duncan Reynolds remanded Davies in custody for a directions hearing in the Victorian Supreme Court on Tuesday.