diff --git a/src/gui/attributetable/qgsattributetablemodel.cpp b/src/gui/attributetable/qgsattributetablemodel.cpp
index a7500cf0712..c3c20cad720 100644
--- a/src/gui/attributetable/qgsattributetablemodel.cpp
+++ b/src/gui/attributetable/qgsattributetablemodel.cpp
@@ -1053,9 +1053,7 @@ void QgsAttributeTableModel::prefetchSortData( const QString &expressionString,
     widgetData = getWidgetData( cache.sortFieldIndex );
   }
 
-  const QgsFeatureRequest request = QgsFeatureRequest( mFeatureRequest )
-                                    .setFlags( cache.sortCacheExpression.needsGeometry() ? Qgis::FeatureRequestFlag::NoFlags : Qgis::FeatureRequestFlag::NoGeometry )
-                                    .setSubsetOfAttributes( cache.sortCacheAttributes );
+  const QgsFeatureRequest request = QgsFeatureRequest( mFeatureRequest ).setFlags( cache.sortCacheExpression.needsGeometry() ? Qgis::FeatureRequestFlag::NoFlags : Qgis::FeatureRequestFlag::NoGeometry ).setSubsetOfAttributes( cache.sortCacheAttributes );
 
   QgsFeatureIterator it = mLayerCache->getFeatures( request );
 
diff --git a/src/gui/attributetable/qgsdualview.cpp b/src/gui/attributetable/qgsdualview.cpp
index 837e4ffa433..de61c649218 100644
--- a/src/gui/attributetable/qgsdualview.cpp
+++ b/src/gui/attributetable/qgsdualview.cpp
@@ -336,16 +336,13 @@ void QgsDualView::setFilterMode( QgsAttributeTableFilterModel::FilterMode filter
 
   // create an empty form to find out if it needs geometry or not
   const QgsAttributeForm emptyForm( mLayer, QgsFeature(), mEditorContext );
-  const bool needsGeometry = ( filterMode == QgsAttributeTableFilterModel::ShowVisible ) || emptyForm.needsGeometry();
+  const bool needsGeometry = ( filterMode == QgsAttributeTableFilterModel::ShowVisible ) || emptyForm.needsGeometry() || QgsExpression( mConfig.sortExpression() ).needsGeometry();
 
   const bool requiresTableReload = ( request.filterType() != Qgis::Qgis::FeatureRequestFilterType::NoFilter || request.spatialFilterType() != Qgis::SpatialFilterType::NoFilter ) // previous request was subset
                                    || ( needsGeometry && request.flags() & Qgis::FeatureRequestFlag::NoGeometry ) // no geometry for last request
                                    || ( mMasterModel->rowCount() == 0 ); // no features
 
-  if ( !needsGeometry )
-    request.setFlags( request.flags() | Qgis::FeatureRequestFlag::NoGeometry );
-  else
-    request.setFlags( request.flags() & ~( static_cast< int >( Qgis::FeatureRequestFlag::NoGeometry ) ) );
+  request.setFlags( request.flags().setFlag( Qgis::FeatureRequestFlag::NoGeometry, !needsGeometry ) );
   request.setFilterFids( QgsFeatureIds() );
   request.setFilterRect( QgsRectangle() );
   request.disableFilter();
@@ -1135,7 +1132,6 @@ bool QgsDualView::modifySort()
       config.setSortExpression( QString() );
     }
 
-    setAttributeTableConfig( config );
     return true;
   }
   else
@@ -1334,7 +1330,10 @@ void QgsDualView::setAttributeTableConfig( const QgsAttributeTableConfig &config
   mFilterModel->setAttributeTableConfig( mConfig );
   mTableView->setAttributeTableConfig( mConfig );
   const QgsAttributeList attributes { requiredAttributes( mLayer ) };
-  QgsFeatureRequest request { mMasterModel->request() };
+  // Determine if the sort expression needs geometry
+  const bool newSortExpressionNeedsGeometry { QgsExpression( config.sortExpression() ).needsGeometry() };
+  QgsFeatureRequest request = mMasterModel->request();
+  request.setFlags( request.flags().setFlag( Qgis::FeatureRequestFlag::NoGeometry, !newSortExpressionNeedsGeometry ) );
   request.setSubsetOfAttributes( attributes );
   mMasterModel->setRequest( request );
   mLayerCache->setCacheSubsetOfAttributes( attributes );
@@ -1342,6 +1341,7 @@ void QgsDualView::setAttributeTableConfig( const QgsAttributeTableConfig &config
 
 void QgsDualView::setSortExpression( const QString &sortExpression, Qt::SortOrder sortOrder )
 {
+
   if ( sortExpression.isNull() )
     mFilterModel->sort( -1 );
   else