We developed a hybrid multiscale model of tumour metabolism in the context of the growth of a spheroid. The model highlights spatiotemporal metabolic heterogeneities in the cell population. The model makes it possible to test different scenarios of environmental stresses and to assess their consequences on the metabolic trajectory of the individual cells, as well as of the tissue as a whole. The spatiotemporal contextualization exhibits the emergence of complex metabolic behaviours. In particular, our simulation results show that the Warburg effect – often depicted as a hallmark of cancer – is contextual, transient and reversible at the level of the single cell. This raises the question of the abnormality of cancer metabolism.