I know I vanished from here for 3 months at the start of summer, but was the extended manual project ever completed? Did I miss it's release?

No. What has been done resides in the support section (see my signature).

:o

Seems that everyone's left Rafe to do all the hard work on his own. Is there anyone else working on this with him. If not I hope the more knowledgeable among us can chip him. Keep it up Rafe and thanks.

Will anybody intend to finish this?

{I like surfing old threads in week-end when things cool down on AAS}

I think Rafe was just compiling it, other people did the sections for him. As for finishing it, if you have the time I'm guessing contributions are welcome.