We examine the role of space-time geometry in the non-adiabatic collapse of a star dissipating energy in the form of radial heat flow, studying its evolution under different initial conditions. The collapse of a star filled with a homogeneous perfect fluid is compared with that of a star filled with inhomogeneous imperfect fluid under anisotropic pressure. Both the configurations are spherically symmetric. However, in the latter case, the physical space 𝑡 = constant of the configurations endowed with spheroidal or pseudospheroidal geometry is assumed to be inhomogeneous. It is observed that as long as the collapse is shear-free, its evolution depends only on the mass and size of the star at the onset of collapse.