Two of the most successful methods to generate unstructured hexahedral meshes are the grid-based methods and the advancing front methods. On the one hand, the grid-based methods generate high-quality hexahedra in the inner part of the domain using an inside–outside approach. On the other hand, advancing front methods generate high-quality hexahedra near the boundary using an outside–inside approach. To combine the advantages of both methodologies, we extend the receding front method: an inside–outside mesh generation approach by means of a reversed advancing front. We apply this approach to generate unstructured hexahedral meshes of exterior domains. To reproduce the shape of the boundaries, we first pre-compute the mesh fronts by combining two solutions of the Eikonal equation on a tetrahedral reference mesh. Then, to generate high-quality elements, we expand the quadrilateral surface mesh of the inner body towards the unmeshed external boundary using the pre-computed fronts as a guide.Two of the most successful methods to generate unstructured hexahedral meshes are the grid-based methods and the advancing front methods. On the one hand, the grid-based methods generate high-quality hexahedra in the inner part of the domain using an inside–outside approach. On the other hand, advancing front methods generate high-quality hexahedra near the boundary using an outside–inside approach. To combine the advantages of both methodologies, we extend the receding front method: an inside–outside mesh generation approach by means of a reversed advancing front. We apply this approach to generate unstructured hexahedral meshes of exterior domains. To reproduce the shape of the boundaries, we first pre-compute the mesh fronts by combining two solutions of the Eikonal equation on a tetrahedral reference mesh. Then, to generate high-quality elements, we expand the quadrilateral surface mesh of the inner body towards the unmeshed external boundary using the pre-computed fronts as a guide.