diff --git a/src/app/qgsattributetabledialog.cpp b/src/app/qgsattributetabledialog.cpp
index c2bca62e693..df51db20bf8 100644
--- a/src/app/qgsattributetabledialog.cpp
+++ b/src/app/qgsattributetabledialog.cpp
@@ -217,16 +217,18 @@ QgsAttributeTableDialog::QgsAttributeTableDialog( QgsVectorLayer *layer, QgsAttr
   {
     request.setFilterExpression( filterExpression );
   }
-  if ( !needsGeom )
-    request.setFlags( Qgis::FeatureRequestFlag::NoGeometry );
 
+  if ( !needsGeom && ( !mLayer || !QgsExpression( mLayer->attributeTableConfig().sortExpression() ).needsGeometry() ) )
+  {
+    request.setFlags( Qgis::FeatureRequestFlag::NoGeometry );
+  }
 
   // Initialize dual view
   if ( mLayer )
   {
     request.setSubsetOfAttributes( mMainView->requiredAttributes( mLayer ) );
     mMainView->init( mLayer, QgisApp::instance()->mapCanvas(), request, editorContext, false );
-    QgsAttributeTableConfig config = mLayer->attributeTableConfig();
+    const QgsAttributeTableConfig config = mLayer->attributeTableConfig();
     mMainView->setAttributeTableConfig( config );
     mFeatureFilterWidget->init( mLayer, editorContext, mMainView, QgisApp::instance()->messageBar(), QgsMessageBar::defaultMessageTimeout() );
   }
diff --git a/src/gui/attributetable/qgsattributetablemodel.cpp b/src/gui/attributetable/qgsattributetablemodel.cpp
index a22024db18d..a7500cf0712 100644
--- a/src/gui/attributetable/qgsattributetablemodel.cpp
+++ b/src/gui/attributetable/qgsattributetablemodel.cpp
@@ -1053,12 +1053,9 @@ void QgsAttributeTableModel::prefetchSortData( const QString &expressionString,
     widgetData = getWidgetData( cache.sortFieldIndex );
   }
 
-  QgsFeatureRequest request = QgsFeatureRequest( mFeatureRequest )
-                              .setSubsetOfAttributes( cache.sortCacheAttributes );
-
-  // If expression does not need geometry set NoGeometry flag
-  if ( !cache.sortCacheExpression.needsGeometry() )
-    request.setFlags( request.flags() | Qgis::FeatureRequestFlag::NoGeometry );
+  const QgsFeatureRequest request = QgsFeatureRequest( mFeatureRequest )
+                                    .setFlags( cache.sortCacheExpression.needsGeometry() ? Qgis::FeatureRequestFlag::NoFlags : Qgis::FeatureRequestFlag::NoGeometry )
+                                    .setSubsetOfAttributes( cache.sortCacheAttributes );
 
   QgsFeatureIterator it = mLayerCache->getFeatures( request );