A combine harvester (10) comprising axial separating apparatus (24, 5) is provided. The axial separating apparatus comprises at least one rotor (28) mounted for rotation in a rotor cage (30) and is arranged to convey crop material in a spiral path from a front end to a rear end. The rotors (28) may also serve to thresh the crop material before separation. The rotor cage (30) includes a grate (34) for allowing separated grain to fall there through under gravity. Two return conveyors (42, 44) are positioned below the grate (34), one behind the other. A first return conveyor (42) disposed under a front portion of the separating apparatus is arranged to catch a portion of said separated grain and convey the caught grain forwardly to a first front edge (46) from where the grain falls under gravity onto a first region of an underlying grain pan (60). A second return conveyor (44) disposed under a rear portion of the separating apparatus is arranged to catch a portion of said separated grain and convey the caught grain forwardly to a second front edge (50) from where the grain falls under gravity at a distance located behind the first region. The grain pan (60) serves to convey the collected grain in a rearward direction to a cleaning unit (64).
